While not really planning for it right now (too busy) I am thinking about UN and EU (or well, EF) rank names and insignia. For the same timeline as my Venusian Empire post.
Somewhat rambling though follow, I could also use comments as well as ideas/suggestions.
I am pretty sure I'll go with the Division General - Corps General system rather than Major General -Lieutenant General system for Flag officers. But otherwise haven't really thought too deeply on the topic.
Both will obviously start with the ranks and insignia of their member states but as UN will build an armed forces recruited from UN administrated territories rather than just rely on Peacekeepers sent by individual member states and as European Federation builds an unified Military both will need a single system.
Early on French and Arabic will be dominant in UN (due to which regions are under UN administration, thought later many Russian and Spanish speakers also came to be ruled by the UN or successor states (perhaps Persian or Urdu could be early additions, Iran and Pakistan become UN adminstrated pretty early on) (speaking of successor states, Portuguese and Chinese), not a lot of native English speakers but probably sees decent use as a Lingua Franca/intermediary "neutral" language).
While French and German are the main ones for EF with Spanish and Italians perhaps worth acknowledging. Not sure about English. On one hand UK is not a member. On the other hand English will probably remain the main working language of the EF unless it adopts Esparanto or something. Thought I imagine official translations for the ranks would exist in all official languages.
(Perhaps a generic "Battalion Commander" etc is a better idea than "Major/Commandant" could mix and match and use terms like Battlegroup and Taskforce rather than just use traditional Army units as well)
(Branches would be Army/Ground Forces, Navy, Air Force and Space Force (more Air Force/Army styled for the EF, but could see Navy elements for the UN), and perhaps a Gendarmerie and Coast Guard (maybe an independent Orbital Guard later on as well?), I was first thinking UN might have such services but EF could rely on the member nations but perhaps something connected to the Interpol/Europol (respectively) could be possible (there is also Frontex).
(To distinguish EF and EU (and yes, they do coexist for quite a long period of time actually, with EU evolving from "EU members who did not want to federalize" to "EF allies/clients/satellites in Europe that the Federation doesn't wish to annex yet" (while originally including many EU countries in Eastern Europe and Balkans (chiefly Poland and Hungary), but with gradual unification EU towards its end essentially became EF and Russia before Russia joined it) I am thinking of adapting the Pan-European Union Flag (red cross on gold disk on blue) with the EU flags but changing the central cross to a compass rose. Another option is adding gold edges to make the EU flag be a horizontal or vertical triband while keeping the stars in the centre or with thin lines like Spain/Mauritania or like Israel/Northern Cyprus)
(There is also the Unified and the later United Commonwealth that I should probably think about later. I could probably adapt the British ranks and insignia pretty closely for the former (with direct UK symbolism changed to Commonwealth symbolism) (other than needing to create one for the Royal Space Force). United Commonwealth could feasibly continue with those of the Unified Commonwealth but perhaps changing the purely Commonwealth based system into a combination of US and Commonwealth would be better.)
Somewhat rambling though follow, I could also use comments as well as ideas/suggestions.
I am pretty sure I'll go with the Division General - Corps General system rather than Major General -Lieutenant General system for Flag officers. But otherwise haven't really thought too deeply on the topic.
Both will obviously start with the ranks and insignia of their member states but as UN will build an armed forces recruited from UN administrated territories rather than just rely on Peacekeepers sent by individual member states and as European Federation builds an unified Military both will need a single system.
Early on French and Arabic will be dominant in UN (due to which regions are under UN administration, thought later many Russian and Spanish speakers also came to be ruled by the UN or successor states (perhaps Persian or Urdu could be early additions, Iran and Pakistan become UN adminstrated pretty early on) (speaking of successor states, Portuguese and Chinese), not a lot of native English speakers but probably sees decent use as a Lingua Franca/intermediary "neutral" language).
While French and German are the main ones for EF with Spanish and Italians perhaps worth acknowledging. Not sure about English. On one hand UK is not a member. On the other hand English will probably remain the main working language of the EF unless it adopts Esparanto or something. Thought I imagine official translations for the ranks would exist in all official languages.
(Perhaps a generic "Battalion Commander" etc is a better idea than "Major/Commandant" could mix and match and use terms like Battlegroup and Taskforce rather than just use traditional Army units as well)
(Branches would be Army/Ground Forces, Navy, Air Force and Space Force (more Air Force/Army styled for the EF, but could see Navy elements for the UN), and perhaps a Gendarmerie and Coast Guard (maybe an independent Orbital Guard later on as well?), I was first thinking UN might have such services but EF could rely on the member nations but perhaps something connected to the Interpol/Europol (respectively) could be possible (there is also Frontex).
(To distinguish EF and EU (and yes, they do coexist for quite a long period of time actually, with EU evolving from "EU members who did not want to federalize" to "EF allies/clients/satellites in Europe that the Federation doesn't wish to annex yet" (while originally including many EU countries in Eastern Europe and Balkans (chiefly Poland and Hungary), but with gradual unification EU towards its end essentially became EF and Russia before Russia joined it) I am thinking of adapting the Pan-European Union Flag (red cross on gold disk on blue) with the EU flags but changing the central cross to a compass rose. Another option is adding gold edges to make the EU flag be a horizontal or vertical triband while keeping the stars in the centre or with thin lines like Spain/Mauritania or like Israel/Northern Cyprus)
(There is also the Unified and the later United Commonwealth that I should probably think about later. I could probably adapt the British ranks and insignia pretty closely for the former (with direct UK symbolism changed to Commonwealth symbolism) (other than needing to create one for the Royal Space Force). United Commonwealth could feasibly continue with those of the Unified Commonwealth but perhaps changing the purely Commonwealth based system into a combination of US and Commonwealth would be better.)