Dillon's army rank ?

[BigDaddyJohn]

Just a quick thread about Dillon and his rank.

I always thought he was a colonel, thus surpassing Dutch's major rank and somewhat giving order to him mostly after the camp attack. But recently I read conflicting information about how he is also a major like Dutch.

I read this in diverse wikias and extended universe documents, that stated both colonel and major as the correct rank, so not really sure what to take for granted here. Based on the movie only, his rank is not directly stated, also they don't wear official army uniforms so it's not visible on them. But like I said above Dillon does give orders to Dutch at some point, so can anyone clarify or bring complementary information on this matter ?

Oh and also conflicting information about his name, is it George or Al ? I've seen both.

[Corporal Hicks]

He's CIA, I wouldn't have thought he'd have an actual rank.

[BigDaddyJohn]

He's CIA, I wouldn't have thought he'd have an actual rank.

I guess it's what is considered canon. I wonder where other media got the colonel or major thing though.

[Voodoo Magic]

I have the 1987 press materials for Predator BDJ. When I get home I'll try to remember to check if there's any indicators in there.

[BigDaddyJohn]

Thanks man.

[Voodoo Magic]

So all it stresses in the 1987 press materials that Dillon was Dutch's former combat buddy, now CIA Officer.






Who knows. Dutch and Dillon could have even been Privates together, bunk mates in boot camp even.

But I'm betting what rank Dillon was when he joined the CIA was inconsequential to the Predator story. Just the fact that he and Dutch were mates long ago was important.

Here are the ranks for the CIA. It looks like it's all Agent this, and Security that...
https://officialciafresh-hotel.weebly.com/cia-ranks.html

[BigDaddyJohn]

Ok thanks for the infos Voodoo ! Yep no ranks mentioned, it's surely not that important. But very interesting posting from you nonetheless ! 

[Master Chief]

Dillion was now a civilian so he had no rank, just a pay grade.  A mission like this would be given the green light by the President, which is why Dutch had to follow his orders and let him tag along.

[BigDaddyJohn]

Dillion was now a civilian so he had no rank, just a pay grade.  A mission like this would be given the green light by the President, which is why Dutch had to follow his orders and let him tag along.

Indeed, that makes sense.

[Voodoo Magic]

Ok thanks for the infos Voodoo ! Yep no ranks mentioned, it's surely not that important. But very interesting posting from you nonetheless ! 

Happy to help brother! 

[SM]

Son Of A Bitch.

A little used rank just under Major.

[Kimarhi]

Well the higher you go up the chain the less likely you would have two officers being bros with shared battle experience together.  If they knew each other it would almost have to have been at the company level for them to be close to one another, so your looking at platoon leader through captain.  For them to have that kind of bromance I'm guessing they were probably both platoon leaders at the same time.  That way they'd have had the same experiences leading men at the same time.  Would be in the same Company, while still practicing a friendly rivalry.   Since it is implied that all the men in Dutch's unit were battle hardened Vietnam vets, this is what I'm going with.  Vietnam was kind of weird because conventional military units had specialized infantry that would be more like SOF units today.  To graduate Recondo school in Vietnam you actually had to complete your first mission which might end up in a firefight.  So you might see Mac with the 101st Airborne and he could've been a LRRP instead of a regular joe etc. 

After that and you start moving up to executive officers etc at the battalion level. 

[BigDaddyJohn]

Well the higher you go up the chain the less likely you would have two officers being bros with shared battle experience together.  If they knew each other it would almost have to have been at the company level for them to be close to one another, so your looking at platoon leader through captain.  For them to have that kind of bromance I'm guessing they were probably both platoon leaders at the same time.  That way they'd have had the same experiences leading men at the same time.  Would be in the same Company, while still practicing a friendly rivalry.   Since it is implied that all the men in Dutch's unit were battle hardened Vietnam vets, this is what I'm going with.  Vietnam was kind of weird because conventional military units had specialized infantry that would be more like SOF units today.  To graduate Recondo school in Vietnam you actually had to complete your first mission which might end up in a firefight.  So you might see Mac with the 101st Airborne and he could've been a LRRP instead of a regular joe etc. 

After that and you start moving up to executive officers etc at the battalion level.

Thanks for the input. Funny how Blain is also listed as sergeant on the internet, I wonder where they got that from. I read the script a few years back but don't remember if it's stated at any point.

[Kimarhi]

Really only the Ranger Regiment in todays military is an elite unit that has anybody below SGT.  Well technically every SF Group does too, but they aren't in the frontline position with the Green Berets. 


Special Forces teams, Delta, etc are all typically SGTs after their initial qualification training into Group, the Unit etc.  Part of it is because their training is so long in comparison to the Rangers, and part of it is also foreign militaries put a high emphasis on rank, so those guys get jumped up to SSG etc pretty quick so they have more weight behind what they say when speaking to foreign militaries, despite them being subject matter experts on a ton of shit even without it. 

[BigDaddyJohn]

Ok, interesting... But Poncho and Hawkins should also be listed as sergeants then, right ? IIRC Billy is.