Ranks In Depth: Sergeant

“Sergeant

You have been noticed for your continued commitment to the Dambusters and have been recognised as a valued member of the guild, your rank enjoys some additional permissions.”

The rank of Sergeant has recently been asked about and that is no real surprise to me since my description of it is rather compact. Someone recently thought they had been demoted when they moved from Corporal to Sergeant so I decided I would begin a series of blog posts for the guild that delve a bit deeper into the rank structure as a whole while focusing on one particular rank at a time. I am not going to do it in any real order of the ranks rather I want to begin with the least discussed rank first and then just pick others thereafter until I have covered all. I will also publish other unrelated blogs in-between.

To begin, as mentioned on multiple pages on the website and throughout my regular blog ramblings, this guild is named after a Royal Air Force operational bomber aircraft squadron and certain terms we use here are derived from the environment of RAF squadron life. Naming a guild after a military unit lends itself nicely to naming ranks in a guild and I have taken full advantage. My creative ability is not my strong point so I found replicating this rank structure to be very helpful.

In the RAF there are 2 career paths with different rank systems. The first being the non-commissioned ranks and the second being the commissioned ranks. Over time in the guild, I felt that using the non-commissioned ranks works best and I have modified a few things to suit. The official RAF ranks are:-

Aircraftman
Leading Aircraftman
Senior Aircraftman
Corporal
Sergeant
Chief Technician (Technical careers only)
Flight Sergeant
Warrant Officer

Warrant Officer is the highest rank in the RAF without switching to the commissioned officer ranks.

Due to restrictions in guild rank numbers in-game, I decided to amalgamate the three most junior ranks into one and call it Airman and you will also notice the absence of ‘On Jankers’ which is only a made-up rank as a punitive measure in the guild and is detailed more clearly at the bottom of the ranks page of this website.

Sergeant in particular is an interesting rank in the guild. It shows me and the other officers that the guild member has not only joined the guild and been recognised as worthy of a continued membership to the rank of Corporal, but has then gone on to impress to the degree that a further solidification of their membership is warranted. A Sergeant in this guild could be anyone from the guy who just loves being here and wants to bring all his friends here, to someone quiet who always thinks of his guild before jumping into PUG content, shouts in /gchat without getting arsey if nobody replies and still will always give people the chance of an invite the next time again. It could be a young lady who never speaks but has been a Dambuster for 3 years without a hint of drama. It could be the guy who doesn’t even hit max level but is such a laugh in guild chat that he is deemed indispensable to the overall community spirit.

A Sergeant is the rank of someone between transitional ranks of Corporal which is really initiation vindication and Chief Tech which is as high as you can reach before taking the big leap to full officer status at Flight Sergeant. Sergeant is therefore indicative of someone in the beginning phase of true recognition and a person the guild is trying to place some trust in.

If you find yourself as the rank of Sergeant and would like to be an officer then your next step is to keep doing what you have been doing and continue to integrate with your guild mates. Eventually you will reach Chief Tech then you will hit a backstop at the limit of the standard ranks until the guild requires another officer to perform a leadership role. You must then be able to stake a claim to be the right person for the job. However, plenty Dambusters remain happily as a trusted Chief Techs and have no intention of jumping into a much more demanding Flight Sergeant officer position. There is no shame in that and arguably it’s an excellent rank as it offers a lot of trust and some nice benefits but doesn’t command too much of your own time devoted to others like an officer rank would.

In the RAF, a Sergeant is a very experienced engineer usually with at least 12-15 years of military experience and often with many more. This guild rank offers a decent guild bank withdrawal amounts and average repair limits per day. I am always reviewing the rank permissions so the precise allowances are liable to change as with any other rank of course 🙂

I hope this clarifies a few unanswered questions about the Sergeant rank. If anyone has any further comments to make then please post them below.

/Salute