Yes, I suppose a lieutenant colonel would be the battalion paymaster, but he'd need a pretty big bag of coins. Assuming that a battalion has around 500 men who are paid an average of around $2,000 once a month, that's a million dollars! If I were a lieutenant colonel, I sure wouldn't want to carry a million bucks worth of coins in a damned thigpen. I'd want a checkbook. Or a stack of prepaid debit cards.