Bond and Mallory same rank

sniperUK

With Mallory being a former Lt Col in the SAS and Bond being Commander RN this means both are equivalent rank ,just need to chuck a Wing Commander in there somewhere )

DEFIANT 74205

I believe it is common practice for the military to promote people appointed to a position to the rank commensurate with that position. Even if Mallory was still in the military (not sure if he still is or not, there's no mention of him being discharged that I recall), then he would be promoted to Lieutenant-General because he holds the position of the chief of the MI6 (equivalent in rank to Bernard Lee and Robert Brown's M who is a Vice Admiral).

HowardB

Interesting...I would think that Mallory as part of the deal with taking over (and basically rebuilding MI6) would receive the appropriate bump in rank (or at least bump in pension benefits) that would go along with the position.

Am I mis-remembering or is Mallory "Sir Gareth Mallory"?

Dryden

Firstly, whilst it was stated that Mallory was a Lieutenant Colonel with the Hereford Regiment (ie SAS), we don't know what happened after he left that regiment and he may well have held a higher rank outside of it before taking up the position he held at the beginning of Skyfall.

Secondly, stepping away from Bond-land for a minute, he would not get an automatic bump to Lieutenant General - SIS/MI6 is a civilian organisation staffed by civil servants. Whilst many of these may indeed be former military it is not necessarily the case - for example the current Chief is a former ambassador.

HowardB

I'm guessing Mallory is probably retired from the military and had moved on to a Governmental position (non-elected) overseeing intelligence services in some capacity. In "Skyfall" we are given a bit of his history (Lt Col in the SAS and held captive by the IRA for 6 months). There is little question left in the film based upon this bit of history and his actions that he is not what a friend of mine refers to as a "bueron" (which is a bureaucrat+moron) and has real badass cred.

martini

I thought it was odd how Mallory was firing M, and then takes on the role of M.

Seemed like a demotion, to me.

Mr Martini

I don't think Mallory was personally firing M. He was just the messenger sent to tell her she'd be retiring in a couple months. He was there to oversee her retirement. At least that's what I thought.

Monckton

May be wrong and making an assumption but early in the film wasn't he introduced as the chair of the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC)?

That would make him quite senior!

Dryden

Monckton wrote:

May be wrong and making an assumption but early in the film wasn't he introduced as the chair of the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC)?

That would make him quite senior!

Monckton wrote:

May be wrong and making an assumption but early in the film wasn't he introduced as the chair of the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC)?

That would make him quite senior!

But not unprecedented - John Scarlett went from Chairman of the JIC to Chief of the SIS so more than feasible that Mallory would have followed the same path.