User blog comment:Monkey d strawhat/How a VA moves up/@comment-1595565-20130210200835

Commander is a position in this case, not a rank. You could call him the leader of his squad and it would mean the same thing. He's still a vice admiral regardless. As for why Vergo is head of the base and Smoker isn't despite being the same rank, seniority. Vergo was at the G-5 base longer than Smoker, naturally he would become the base leader. Smoker was, in regard to his tenure at G-5 compared to Vergo's, a noob. We really have no idea how admirals get chosen.