Something that Joe Mallozzi said...

[katikat]

... in his yesterday's blog entry made me scratch my head:

"Colonel Carter was most certainly the military commander during her tenure on Atlantis. She may have deferred to Sheppard on account of his Pegasus expertise but, if things came right down to it, she had the final word."

Ugh *tilts her head* So, if I get it right, Major Sheppard was the de facto military leader in S1, than he was promoted to Lt. Colonel and he became the official military leader in S2 and S3, then he was basically demoted to 2nd in command when Col. Carter became the Boss, and now he is the military leader again? I mean, Weir and Woolsey can’t be military commanders since they are civilians even though they have the last word in non-military situations. Or did I get it wrong?

Comments

[bodgei.livejournal.com]

It's not really as simple as that - if she wanted to push it then yes he did. If she wanted to push it. But I don't think I saw her ever order him - or belay an oder of his. And on paper he was probably still listed with his job.

The shift would be in his mind mostly. He would know she out ranked him and would act accordingly. It's just part of the milatry culture.