Is the Gungan military rank of Bombad General roughly equivalent in stature to General in other militaries?

Question

In The Phantom Menace after he brings the Naboo and the Gungans together, we see Boss Nass immediately make Jar Jar a "Bombad General".

NASS: Yousa doen grand. Jar Jar bringen usen and da Naboo together. So, wesa make you Bombad General.

JAR JAR: General?! Oh no...

If Bombad General is roughly equivalent in stature and responsibilities to a more traditional General, why would Boss Nass give someone with (seemingly) no prior military experience and a history of being so "clumsy" that he was banished this important role?

It doesn't seem to be a merely honorary rank, since we see Jar Jar leading at least a portion (if not the entirety, it's unclear in the film) of the Gungan army at the Great Grass Plains against the droid army during the Battle of Naboo.

The rank of General has always been given out like candy in the Star Wars universe (Lando in particular seems to gain the rank very quickly, as do literally all the Jedi Knights after the formation of the Republic Army), but this seems egregious even by Star Wars standards, leading to the question, is Bombad General perhaps a much lower rank than the presence of the term "General" would lead us to believe?

Answer 1

Yes, Bombad General is a rank that is equivalent to the rank of General in other militaries. Jar Jar holds superiority to his fellow Gungan soldiers and is supposedly leading them to victory.

Since no-one's explained his duties and since the other generals think he's a shmuck, he's just picking it up as he goes along.

Jar Jar Binks rode with them at the head of his new command, wondering what it was he was supposed to do. Mostly, he believed, he was supposed to stay out of the way. Certainly the other generals and even his own subordinate officers had made it clear that this was what they preferred. Boss Nass might think it clever to make him a general in the Gungan army, but the career officers found it less amusing. General Ceel, who was commander in-chief, grunted sourly at Jar Jar, on being informed of his new position, and told him to set a good example for his people and die well.

_{^{Phantom Menace: Official Novelisation}}

Answer 2

Possibly interesting fact: The German dub translated the rank as "superheftig General", interpreting the "Bombad" as something like "bombastic", although the German adjective used is a made up word translating back to "super hefty".

Back to the actual English naming: Although I can't back it up, I think this is really just a "gunganized" version of "Combat General". How high the actual rank is in comparison is probably impossible to tell, but also considering Jar Jar's reaction just using "General", I think it's safe to believe that it essentially just means "General of the troops" or "military General".

Also considering I don't really remember any Jedi using the term "General" in the Clone Wars series (haven't seen all episodes), I always had the interpretation it's just some kind of honorific used by the clones.

Answer 3

Boss Nass's dialogue in the script is all given phonetically. The line where he promotes Jar Jar Binks is:

So, wesa maken yousa Bombad General.

The transcriptions found online (and in the original question here) often regularize the spelling to various extents. This tends to obscure the fact that the written line is heavy with Nass's peculiar accent.

The significance of this is that a natural understanding of Nass's line is that he is promoting Jar Jar to the rank of Bombard General. Given that Nass is voiced by Brian Blessed, who speaks with a British, non-rhotic accent, "bombad" is reasonable phonetic spelling of "bombard" in this accent. Jar Jar begins the battle situated among a unit of gungans who throw energized spheres in battle—i.e., bombardiers.

A title like "bombard general" would fit with historical practice in a number of militaries, where the type of unit a full general (or lieutenant general) commands it part of their official rank. This is best known in the German military, which historically used ranks such as General der Artillerie (general of the artillery) and General der Infanterie (with the Nazi Wehrmacht adding other types such as General der Panzertruppen, General der Gebirgstruppen, and General der Fallschirmtruppen); the Bulgarian army also used a similar system.