Military Ranks (TOS)

BSG Military Rankings	U.S. Air Force Rankings	BSG Examples
FLAG OFFICERS
Commander	General	Commander Adama (See Note #1)
Commander	Lieutenant General	Commander Cain (See Note #2)
Commander	Major General	Commander Kronus (See Note #3)
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS
Colonel	Colonel	Colonel Tigh
Colonel (Jr. or Lt.Col.)	Lieutenant Colonel	Colonel (Jr.) Tolan (See Note #4)
Major (used in the novelizations)	Major	N/A
Captain (Full Flight Wing Commander)	Captain	Captain Apollo
Lieutenant (1st/ Sr. grade) [Flight Leader]	First Lieutenant	1st Lts. Boomer, Sheba, Bojay
Lieutenant (2nd/Jr. grade; J.G.)	2nd Lieutenant	2nd Lts. Brie, Deitra, Starbuck, and Zac
Ensign (lowest ranking officer)	N/A	Ensign Greenbean (See Note #5)
ENLISTED NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS
Senior Flight Sergeant	Staff Sergeant	Flight Sergeant (Sr.) Jolly
Flight Sergeant	Senior Airman	Flight Sergeant Ortega
Flight Corporal	Airman 1st Class	Flight Corporal Rigel
Petty Officer/Yeoman/Private (1st Class)	Airman	N/A
Cadets (The Academy; Saga of a Star World)	N/A	N/A
Recruits (The Man with Nine Lives)	N/A	Borellian Nomen "Recruits"

Notes

1. Under martial law Adama is the Supreme Commander of the remaining Rag-tag Fleet [G-4 Sr.+ or G-5]. ("Baltar's Escape")
2. In "The Living Legend" Commander Cain is believed lost with the Fifth Fleet. They never say that Cain is 5th Fleet Commander. Cain is an independent operator; this would slow your promotions. Cain and Adama are from the same class; Cain finishes ahead of Adama. Tigh (likely a sophomore when Cain and Adama graduated) was at the Academy doing the same timeframe, but is younger than Cain and Adama.
3. Commander Kronus was fleet commander of 600 ships including the Battlestar Rycon (Fourth Fleet) He was retired; re-activated by Commander Adama, a former aide of Kronus. "Take the Celestra"
4. Cain's XO, Colonel Tolan refers to Colonel Tigh as "sir" in "The Living Legend, Part II". Full Colonels do not address one another as "sir". However all Colonels (even Lt. Colonels) are addressed as "Colonel" or "sir" by lower ranking staff. On the other hand, since Tigh had been temporarily installed as commander of the Pegasus, Tolen would have to address him as sir - even if they were the same rank (so there may not be a rank of 'lieutenant colonel').
5. Zac was probably an Ensign, just listed incorrectly on the credits of "Saga of a Star World". The reasoning is that Zac had never been on a patrol; Lieutenants typically have flight experience and accrued flight time.
6. Omega is an officer; he has rights to Officer's Club, we do not know what kind because the series ended after one network season. Omega could have been a warrant officer or a Lieutenant.

See Also

Military Ranks (RDM) - Ranks from the re-imagined series.

Credit

This information is derived from the defunct Battlestar Galactica InfoSphere; credit for initial corrections of this rank breakdown go to the fan referred to as "Fur".

Re-imagined Series definition: Battlestar Group ^{(TRS: "Water")}. It also doubles as an acronym for the television series itself.

Re-imagined Series definition: plastic explosive similar to modern C-4, see: G-4 ^{(TRS: "Water")}