The 501st... Battalion?

[Bellosh101]

For those who don't check up on the Official Site all that often, its Clone Wars section now has a set of "cards" for characters appearing in Season 3. Among them is a card for Captain Rex, who is stated to be commander of the 501st Clone Trooper Battalion. Aside from previously-established facts about the 501st, what does this mean for the infamous GAR OoB where clone captains were specifically mentioned to lead companies while majors headed battalions? Is this a valid pretext for completely disregarding the old OoB's canonicity?

[Vympel]

I'd say its a stupid mistake and leave it at that, really. One thing on the website can't change oodles of stuff about the 501st Legion.

[Patroklos]

I'd also say that one deviation from the norm should not be extrapolated. Majors/LT Colonels and LT Colonels/Colonels are routinely exchanged in unit commands in real armies despite the normal rank conventions for certain units. Sometimes its something as uninteresting as the officer being a deep select and will put on the proper rank in a few months, or perhaps there is a certain specialty shortage and they had to improvise. Sometimes promotions are held up if they require a political approval but the person takes over the job at his lower rank in the meantime.

As an example DDG XOs are usually LCDRs by convention, but mine is a CDR right now because of a new XO to CO program they are implementing. My last XO was also a CDR because his identified replacement fell through and he had to fill the billet for six more months during which he put on CDR.

[SeaTrooper]

As an example DDG XOs are usually LCDRs by convention, but mine is a CDR right now because of a new XO to CO program they are implementing. My last XO was also a CDR because his identified replacement fell through and he had to fill the billet for six more months during which he put on CDR.

Really? That's interesting. My last XO on HOBART was also a three-ringer, but I'd thought that normal since all of the HODs were LCDRs. Going back a bit further, though, to BRISBANE, 2 of the 3 XOs there had been LCDRs, so I guess the lead ship of the class may have been a special case.

Ref 'CAPT' Rex, I was under the impression that the Clones were trained and selected for their ranks quite early on, with future promotions dependant on dead men's shoes and further expansion of the Legions. Given the heavey casualties the 501st seems to regular suffer, they may be a Legion on paper, and not much more than a BTN in strength at any one time.

[Patroklos]

Really? That's interesting. My last XO on HOBART was also a three-ringer, but I'd thought that normal since all of the HODs were LCDRs. Going back a bit further, though, to BRISBANE, 2 of the 3 XOs there had been LCDRs, so I guess the lead ship of the class may have been a special case.

Its different now because they are implementing an XO/CO fleet up, where the XO tranistions to the CO during one long tour instead of them being two distinct tours with different people. For this reason the XO will normally be a senior LCDR who will put on CDR in time for his fleet up to the CO billet, though right now we have a lot of CDR XOs just becuase they are fitting who they can into the billets to get it kicked off.