Here are her dates of rank per Wiki
Uptil being promoted to Colonel, seems to have been more as less in the ordinary course. Which makes me wonder, is she still an active duty officer, or is it a promotion like that of the British Royal Family, an honorary one.
It has only been bestowed as an honorary rank since 1995, and in Philip’s case (though awarded way back in 1953) it was honorary, yes. But the general point I’m getting at is that it’s not unheard of to come up with a lofty title or sinecure for the head of state’s consort, concubine, or BFF, that the royal families of Europe do or did it all the time (for their kids too: if memory serves Harry, who actually was a Captain in the Army, wore a Colonel’s uniform to his or someone else’s wedding because he happened to be appointed honorary Colonel of some regiment), and that what I suspect is going on here is something along those lines whether the Thai military has it down quite as neatly as that or not. I mean, maybe they don’t see the need to have an honorary rank, just so long as everyone gets the wink and the nudge that this particular Major General is, uh, “special.”
But at the end of the day, it’s a different military, so who knows. While it may hold true in general that “general means the same thing everywhere” there are no doubt instances where it doesn’t (as in not all generals are long serving professional officers in their respective armed forces, even if they almost always are in almost every military). Drawing on historical examples that go back hundreds of years to Wellington or Marlborough only muddies the waters further and is not, in my view, particularly helpful unless the point is to show just how much the “general principle” is subject to variation based on the finer points of how generals are made, because of course militaries evolve over time as do their promotion systems (and not always for the better).
In the US, in the pr sent day at least, while the general and flag officer ranks are mercifully safe from purely political appointments thanks to statutes enacted by Congress, it’s not unheard of for politically-connected individuals to find themselves getting commissions as junior officers in the reserves or national guard just so they can get the “military veteran” check in the box if they ever end up running for office.
Because we all know that military veterans are just all around better than common folk, right? I mean, unless they’re ticking time-bombs, in which case we should lock them up preemptively and make sure they never have access to firearms. Sometimes, it’s hard to know which stereotype I’m supposed to be living up to. 
Not really. He only ever voted “Neigh”.
(Oh, come on. We were all thinking it…)
I think the right question to ask is, “How many 34 year old generals does Thailand have?” That would better indicate how exceptional her achievement actually is.
Indeed. She is a NATO OF-7 equivalent. She’d be given all the rights, respect, and authority commensurate with that rank.
No one was shocked when Hafez al-Assad Bashar advanced swiftly through military ranks while he’s father was Syria’s president.
:dubious:
Baby Assad’s primary Service was in the medical corps. When he became heir apparent he was recalled to active service and undertook training with various parts of the military. His highest rank was Lt Col if I recall. He was promoted to Marshal **after ** he became President.
Arab potentates from what I have seen, generally avoid giving family members appointments to senior military positions in the regular military (Guards are another issues) unless they have experience.
I just googled “US Syria military pact” and apparently, there has never been one.
What does that have to do with anything?
I find it hard to believe that Mr. Assad has advanced so fast and so high to his present-day rank due to his military talent or skills.
It has been said in this thread that the Thai situation is a case where a woman has slept her way to the top.
I for one have always found it dubious when presidents, supreme leaders and their associates, as well as members of royal families around the world accede lickety-split to high positions within the army, scientific societies, religious orders, etc. And it’s usually dull men who crave for power.
This seems to be out of right field. I’m also not quite sure it’s an accurate statement. After all, Syria was a member of the US-led coalition against Iraq during the 1991 Persian Gulf War.
Given the size of the Thai army, the sample size is likely to be too small to draw firm conclusions.
That would be a real morale-killer for the troops as to all the generals I’ve ever seen.
Siam Sam could tell you something about that.
It’s a response to “No one was shocked when Hafez al-Assad Bashar advanced swiftly through military ranks while he’s father was Syria’s president.” I would hold allies to one standard of professional military conduct, and adversarial non-allies to another (which is probably naive of me). When an ally who might conceivably have US troops at his disposal to some degree does crazy shit, I worry. When someone like Hafez al-Assad Bashar does it, I just roll my eyes.
Noted. I’m surprised this didn’t come up in the Google (well, actually Yahoo) search, though pacts with Russia and Iran were at the top of the feed. Anyway, Syria’s questionable policies don’t reflect on America particularly.
I was hoping he’d weigh in.
It’s very, very unlikely that any Thai general will ever have any U.S. troops under his or her command - in most alliances, the chains of command are kept strictly separate.
I’m sure he’ll be able to give us the official story, but I wouldn’t ask him to get in trouble by expressing his actual opinion on it.
Agreed, the only novelty here is that it’s a female consort being given an honorary military rank. That’s unusual in Europe, though in the UK various female royals were given honorary ranks in the women’s military branches when they were first established (& the future Queen Elizabeth II actually served in one).
In some cases it’s decorative, in some it’s a perk, in others it’s a required part of the job. Spain’s head of state is CiC, so both JCI and FVI got all-around military training and a bunch of promotions which were completely unrelated to time-in-rank; it wasn’t intended to make them good at strategy, logistics or tactics, but to get them to the point where they can understand what the actual officers are saying and speak the jargon back. It sure beats having a head of state and CiC whose education has taken the form of tutoring and parties, as used to be our case.
Alexander the Great was an ancient Macedonian ruler and one of history’s greatest military minds who, as King of Macedonia and Persia, established the largest empire the ancient world had ever seen.
He died aged 33 years.