Aside from just plain curious knowledge, it would be nice to verify the ranks of people you meet, and not just because they said so, from a third party. The USAF almost has something like this, but it's not that easy to find a particular person unless that person says "go to this web page, my name is listed there as a newly promoted rokudan." because it is listed by date. (Would be a nice idea to suggest that they have an alphabetical list or something "searchable") errr. I think google or yahoo would work if you know what terms to apply.
http://www.aikidoeast.com/aikidoeast...omotions.shtml