In Tom Clancy's (not very good) novel The Bear and the Dragon, he refers to one of the characters as a retired "half colonel." In the American military, a colonel is distinguished from the next-lower rank by being called a "full colonel" or a "full bird colonel" -- with reference to the eagle insignia which indicate colonelness. A lieutenant colonel, on the other hand, is referred to as a half-bird colonel, a light colonel, or a light-bird colonel, but not as a half colonel ... at least not in my experience.
Does yours differ? Is this another of those cross-Pond differences in slang?
Never heard of it. I'd guess either it's a mistake or it's meant to make the reader feel something (contempt or sympathy, I can't be sure) for the character.
I think it’s quite a common description elsewhere if not in the States.
From an interview with a soldier present at D-Day:
Miller: Well, what was your rank and unit at that time, sir?
Mais: I was half-colonel.http://www.military.com/Content/MoreContent1/?file=dday_0057p1From proceedings in the Daíl (Irish parliament):
Dr. Byrne: For the information of the Deputies over there a lieutenant colonel is a half colonel. This man must to a very large degree have been acting with the knowledge of his immediate superior officers.http://www.oireachtas-debates.gov.ie/D/0246/D.0246.197005210025.htmlFrom an Oz book review:
his claim that van der Post pretended to be a lieutenant-colonel during the war when he was only a captain. When we finally come to the tortuous evidence for this damaging charge, it turns out he undoubtedly was made a half-colonel, even though the official record is confusing as to the date.http://www.humancondition.info/Articles/BookerSirLaurens.htmlFrom a Zild family tree record:
In 1886 Henry returns with the 3rd returns to Trichinopoly from Tounghoo and is made a half colonel 0n 9th June and 2IC of the 5th Madras Infantry which had arrived from from Rangoon at Berhampore on 21 February 1887.http://www.baberfamilytree.org/People/henry_thomas_harris_baber.htmSomewhere I’ve come across the description Brevet Colonel – does that mean ‘not formally ratified by high command’ or something? Or is it an alternative for ‘not a full bird’?
I don't know if they still have them, but the brevet promotion was a temporary promotion without pay in the 19th century armies. It allowed commanders to fill the ranks of their fallen officers in the field without committing the army to confirming the promotion under less stressful conditions. Sometimes the brevet rank persisted for a long time, and people resigned or were demobbed at a brevet rank. Usually, I think, they were entitled to refer to themselves as being that rank, i.e. a captain who was commissioned to brevet major was entitled to continue to call himself "Major" provided the brevet was never withdrawn.
HTH
I my neck of the woods they were referred to as commanders, or full commanders.
ah, yes, thanks - that was the context I was only half-remembering! (probably from a Sharpe novel or something)
>In my neck of the woods
A case of not being able to see the forest for the seas? Or were you driving some sort of amphibian?
I didn't know it was possible to herd frogs...
Golly, take a look at all the info. I got here; feel free to ignore the invitations to shop for frogs:
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/frog
moving off on a tangent..
frog is also a 'verb'
when a mistake has been discovered several row back in a work of knitting, its common to take the work off the needles and rip it. (rip it, rip it, "riv it".--or more commonly, to frog (in the US frogs say "riv it')
(to undo a few stitches (for a mistake found before the row is completed it to tink (knit backwards)