Talk: Kira Nerys

Kira is apparently promoted directly from major to colonel, thus skipping the rank of lieutenant colonel (or field colonel, as the Bajoran rank is called). This raises the question of whether the writers really intended to make her a full colonel, or just a lieutenant colonel. Either way, of course, she would still be addressed simply as "colonel" most of the time. Whether a Colonel or Lieutenant Colonel, because Sisko was a Captain at the time, the highest field commission rank he could confer would have been Commander. As such, her Starfleet rank should have no reflection on her Bajoran rank or her standing at the time.