military

[percy11]

if senior officer is your superior and lower rank officer is your subordinate what is a person of the same rank

[lodekka]

Peer or equivalent spring to mind.

[Quizmonster]

In certain circumstances, the word 'fellow' might be used...as in: "Having discussed the matter with his fellow Majors, he decided to attack."

[waimarie]

To my recollection there is always somebody above or below you in rank. Very rarely would two people be exactly the same.

For commissioned officers it works like this : First there is your actual rank of course, second is the date you obtained that rank (your seniority is from that date). This date is probably the most important date in your service life as it governs practically everything including your position in the promotion bracket.

That is why you get people avidly studying the Army/Navy or Air Force List and in some films you will hear them ask another their date. I seem to recollect this happening in the film Zulu between Michael Caine and Stanley Baker and is how Baker obtained the overall command (in the film, that is). The date of obtaining a rank dictates your seniority and, in some cases is a sharp reminder to those who have been 'passed over' for promotion.

I have no idea where an 'acting rank' would fit into this scheme of things though.

[Quizmonster]

That is, of course, all very true, Waimarie, but doesn't alter the fact that once one is a Major, say, one holds the same rank as all other Majors. Seniority within a rank only comparatively rarely takes on any significance. The day before becoming a Major, one is a Captain. When addressing a Major on that day, one calles him 'Sir'. On majority day, one calls him 'John' or Bill' or whatever.