Reduction in rank

Okay, imagine you're a part of a group of friends who all have different jobs. Maybe one friend is really good at drawing, and another is good at math.

Now let's say you're all working on a project together, like building a fort out of pillows and blankets. You come up with an idea for how the fort should look, but your friends don't like it as much as another idea from the friend who's good at drawing.

Because everyone wants to make the best fort possible, they might decide to let the drawing friend be in charge of figuring out how the fort should look. This means that the drawing friend gets more say in how things are done, and other friends might have to give up some of their ideas or opinions to make sure the fort turns out well.

This is kind of like what happens with a "reduction in rank." It means that someone who was higher up or had more power in a group (like a job or the military) is now going to have less power or responsibility. This can happen for different reasons, like if they didn't follow the rules or didn't do a good job.

So, just like in the fort example, someone else might become "in charge" because they're better at the job or because the people in charge don't think the higher-up person is doing a good enough job. This can sometimes be hard for the person who's losing power, just like it might be hard for you if your friends don't like your fort idea as much as someone else's.