# How do active duty and reserve officer ranks compare? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 23, 2009, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-active-duty-and-reserve-officer-ranks-compare/507366 "2009-08-23T02:54:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Thymeless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ea666f/32.png) [@Thymeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thymeless)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2009, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-active-duty-and-reserve-officer-ranks-compare/507366/1 "2009-08-23T02:54:00Z")
A long time ago I worked for the Navy, and I have a vague recollection of how one progressed from lowest to highest officer ranking in that service branch. If somebody in the reserves reaches the rank of, say, Captain, is that person equally experienced/qualified as a Captain who is active duty? All I know about reserve service is from a long-ago relationship with a lawyer who tried his best on reserve weekends to hide somewhere with his NYT until it was time to go home. ---
**Author:** ![UncleBill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d26b3c/32.png) [@UncleBill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBill)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2009, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-active-duty-and-reserve-officer-ranks-compare/507366/2 "2009-08-23T04:14:59Z")
An officer who serves on active duty is basically a 24/7/365 officer, while the Reservist dons the uniform much less frequently, and typically has a full-time civilian profession that takes much of their brainpower during the month. With very few exceptions, the Active Duty officer will be much more qualified and experienced than a Reserve officer of the same rank (who has spent many years in the reserves, of course not someone who just transitioned there from Active Duty.) ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2009, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-active-duty-and-reserve-officer-ranks-compare/507366/3 "2009-08-23T04:32:03Z")
Or someone that serves as a Class B (full time) Reservist. Like me. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Snnipe\_70E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5a626/32.png) [@Snnipe\_70E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snnipe_70E)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2009, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-active-duty-and-reserve-officer-ranks-compare/507366/4 "2009-08-23T05:42:17Z")
> [@Thymeless](#): > > A long time ago I worked for the Navy, and I have a vague recollection of how one progressed from lowest to highest officer ranking in that service branch. If somebody in the reserves reaches the rank of, say, Captain, is that person equally experienced/qualified as a Captain who is active duty? All I know about reserve service is from a long-ago relationship with a lawyer who tried his best on reserve weekends to hide somewhere with his NYT until it was time to go home. It would depend It would on his total experience. Example. a Captian USN vs A Captian USNR-R. If the reservist also has a unlimited Captians licience in the Merchant Marine I would think the reservist would have more experience in ship handling. Now if he had an unllimited Chief Engineers licience then the USN captian would probably be a better ship handler. ---
**Author:** ![UncleBill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d26b3c/32.png) [@UncleBill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBill)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2009, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-active-duty-and-reserve-officer-ranks-compare/507366/5 "2009-08-23T13:36:58Z")
> [@Poysyn](#): > > Or someone that serves as a Class B (full time) Reservist. > > Like me. > > 🙂 You may be the exception I spoke of, but if a Class B is stationed at a reserve unit , they may still be lacking part the experience gained with being part of an active duty unit, highly dependent on the full time staff at the reserve unit. ---
**Author:** ![Thymeless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ea666f/32.png) [@Thymeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thymeless)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2009, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-active-duty-and-reserve-officer-ranks-compare/507366/6 "2009-08-23T15:03:00Z")
Thank you. Another question. Does it take longer to advance in the Reserves than in Active Duty? ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2009, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-active-duty-and-reserve-officer-ranks-compare/507366/7 "2009-08-23T15:36:19Z")
> [@Snnipe\_70E](#): > > It would depend > It would on his total experience. > Example. a Captian USN vs A Captian USNR-R. If the reservist also has a unlimited Captians licience in the Merchant Marine I would think the reservist would have more experience in ship handling. Now if he had an unllimited Chief Engineers licience then the USN captian would probably be a better ship handler. I have to say, I’m impressed that you were able to misspell “captain” four times in a row. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2009, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-active-duty-and-reserve-officer-ranks-compare/507366/8 "2009-08-23T16:02:50Z")
> [@UncleBill](#): > > With very few exceptions, the Active Duty officer will be much more qualified and experienced than a Reserve officer of the same rank (who has spent many years in the reserves, of course not someone who just transitioned there from Active Duty.) That would depend on the sort of work, and what the guy does for a day job. I don’t know if this is still the case, but Air National Guard pilots used to routinely whoop upon the active duty ones in exercises. I think most of them were commercial pilots, AND had many more flight hours in their military planes as well. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2009, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-active-duty-and-reserve-officer-ranks-compare/507366/9 "2009-08-23T16:07:42Z")
My question: are they truly of equal rank? Must the reserve Captian salute the active duty Captian? ---
**Author:** ![cerberus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@cerberus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cerberus)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2009, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-active-duty-and-reserve-officer-ranks-compare/507366/10 "2009-08-23T17:05:15Z")
Pay grade is pay grade, and military courtesies are not depende ant on service status. Besides, US Army insignia doesn’t significantly vary among active duty, regular, reserve, national guard a sergeant in any of these components wil salute a captain in any of these components. Moreover, this works across serices - an E5 salutes an O3. ---
**Author:** ![cerberus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@cerberus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cerberus)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2009, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-active-duty-and-reserve-officer-ranks-compare/507366/11 "2009-08-23T17:07:39Z")
People in the same grade do have differences in rank based on time in grade and on position in their organization, but people in the same pay grade do not routinely salute each other on the basis of rank. ---
**Author:** ![Snnipe\_70E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5a626/32.png) [@Snnipe\_70E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snnipe_70E)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2009, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-active-duty-and-reserve-officer-ranks-compare/507366/12 "2009-08-24T04:00:54Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > I have to say, I’m impressed that you were able to misspell “captain” four times in a row. 😉 Did I mention that I am an engineer. ---
**Author:** ![Thrash\_the\_Almighty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/90ced4/32.png) [@Thrash\_the\_Almighty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thrash_the_Almighty)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2009, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-active-duty-and-reserve-officer-ranks-compare/507366/13 "2009-08-24T12:45:40Z")
> [@bump](#): > > I don’t know if this is still the case, but Air National Guard pilots used to routinely whoop upon the active duty ones in exercises. I think most of them were commercial pilots, AND had many more flight hours in their military planes as well. I used to be buddies with a guy in the Air National Guard and he was very proud of this fact. Not only did he claim their pilots had far more flight hours as a result of working as commercial pilots, but most of the support crews also worked in the aviation industry as mechanics and such and so they tended to be more experienced as well. He also claimed that while the typical active duty unit had a steady stream of new members, most of his unit had worked together for more than ten years and therefore worked very well together. He told me that while his unit may not have excelled at military procedure they were some of the best pilots, mechanics, and logistical specialists in the world. I tended to think he was right. ---
**Author:** ![Ramzay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e9a140/32.png) [@Ramzay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ramzay)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2011, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-active-duty-and-reserve-officer-ranks-compare/507366/14 "2011-04-19T22:56:08Z")
Does a Active Duty O-1 in the Marines have to salute a Reserve O-2 in the Navy? ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2011, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-active-duty-and-reserve-officer-ranks-compare/507366/15 "2011-04-20T00:58:13Z")
> [@Thymeless](#): > > Thank you. Another question. Does it take longer to advance in the Reserves than in Active Duty? In general yes. At least in the Army. This has more to do with a lot of company grade officers leaving at the end of their commitment. > [@Ramzay](#): > > Does a Active Duty O-1 in the Marines have to salute a Reserve O-2 in the Navy? Yes. ETA, in the army when I was a LT we always said no honor among Lieutenants. O-1 did not salute O-2s though technically you should but O1 and O2s saluted O3s. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Man\_In\_Black](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@The\_Man\_In\_Black](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Man_In_Black)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2011, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-active-duty-and-reserve-officer-ranks-compare/507366/16 "2011-04-20T14:23:06Z")
The dead walk!!!:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek: