S sgt btry c 458 ca bn MEAN?

Answer 1

This unit designator is full of anachronisms, if this is supposed to be a US unit. If someone is presenting you with that as their credentials, I would question the validity, as it seems to be a made up unit.

It seems to me that the "S Sgt" is referring to the rank of Staff Sergeant. If this were an Army unit, it would be abbreviated "SSG", whereas the Air Force and Marine Corps use "SSgt".

"Btry" refers to "Battery", which is used by artillery units in place of "Company". The "C" refers to the company/battery, in this case, Charlie Battery. US units usually place the company designation before the battalion, so that it would read "C Btry, 458...".

Here's what really gets me. "458 CA BN" is 458th Civil Affairs Battalion. What confuses me about this is a couple of things. First, I'm unable to find any reference to a "458 Civil Affairs Battalion" anywhere. Second, Psychological Operations and Civil Affairs doesn't use "Battery" - in the US, only the Field Artillery does - Civil Affairs would use "Company".

My guess is that this is either a nonexistent unit (meaning you may have been presented with false credentials), or else this is in reference to a non-US unit (in which case, the "CA" may stand for something other than "Civil Affairs"), which would explain why the Company/Battery designation is placed after the battalion (as is common practice among British and Commonwealth units), as well as the strange abbreviation for "Staff Sergeant" (which is also a rank found in British and Commonwealth units). So I'm inclined to believe that, if this isn't in reference to a US unit, it's probably a Commonwealth military unit (perhaps British or Canadian), and the "CA" would refer to some type or artillery.