Batman (military) Batman (military) A batman or an orderly is a soldier or airman assigned to a commissioned officer as a personal servant. Before the advent of motorized transport, an officer's batman was also in charge of the officer's "bat-horse" that carried the pack saddle with his officer's kit during a campaign. The U.K. English term is derived from the obsolete "bat", meaning "pack saddle" (from French "bât", from Old French "bast", from Late Latin "bastum"). A batman's duties often include: The action of serving as a batman was referred to as "batting". In armies where officers typically came from the upper
Viceroy's commissioned officer Viceroy's commissioned officer A viceroy's commissioned officer (VCO) was a senior Indian member of the British Indian Army. VCOs were senior in rank to warrant officers in the British Army, and held a commission issued by the viceroy. Also known as "Indian officers" or "native officers", they were treated in almost all respects as commissioned officers, but only had authority over Indian troops and were subordinate to all British King's (and Queen's) commissioned officers and King's commissioned Indian officers. These ranks were created to facilitate effective liaison between the British officers and their native troops. The soldiers who were promoted