Major / Sergeant surnames?

Question

Do privates in the army with the surnames Major or Sergeant get given a hard time of it by their comrades or superiors? Also, when reaching either rank, is there any way to avoid confusion, or would they simply be ' Major Major', 'Sergeant Major Sergeant', 'Major Sergeant', etc... ?

Answer 1

It does make for some interesting times!

Answer 2

We actually had a Seargent named Majors. It was always interesting when he got on the phone, because you could hear the fear on the other end of the line when some private picked up and hears "This is Sgt. Majors." It was always amusing. He once got corrected by someone because he had printed Sgt. Majors before signing something, because it should be Sgt. Maj., and it was only Major, not Majors, and then they saw his name tag.

Answer 3

My girlfriend reached the rank of Sergeant Major when she fell in love and got married. Yup guess the name.. it was Major. Everyone just called her Sarg M.
Award time was great. The general was just reading her award and bam he said it.. try and control that laughter!!

Answer 4

Had a guy with the surname Tennent once. Don't recall his real first name but evryone called him Lou of course.

Answer 5

It's even better in the navy, where an E3 is called a "seaman" and yes, there have been some "seaman seaman's" it can get even better, I knew a guy named "Seaman Fountain" and "Seaman Swallows".... the list goes on....

Answer 6

People with those surnames aren't allowed in the army, since it would confuse the troops and cause mass chaos. It would be 911 times a thousand.

Answer 7

I always thought of that too...think of Marshall too!