Han definitely was, because he never accepted a commission until ROTJ. He kept himself around as a freelance contractor.
That's one of the things I love about the nonverbal storytelling of costuming*. In ANH, Luke joined with gusto and enthusiasm. What he was wearing for the award ceremony at the end was supposed to be some uniform of the Alliance -- based on him being a fighter pilot, I'd say some sort of surplus Starfighter division uniform from
somewhere. A lot of people have said it was something Han had on his ship, but it doesn't seem to be Lando's style or size,
definitely not Han's size. The Rebel base being the source seems much more likely.
So in Empire, when Han -- a pilot -- is wearing his own set of those trousers, but his own shirt and jacket (plus him still being there, period), it's a visual way of saying he's "half in". He's been sticking with the Rebels, in large part by saying he can leave whenever he wants to. General Rieekan addresses his as "Captain", not just "Master Solo" or whatever. Honestly, I feel like he's more part of the heirarchy than Leia at that point. She's a senator from a senate that no longer exists, a princess from a planet that no longer exists, and never wears a rank badge. Are she and Mon Mothma "official suggesters" that the Alliance Generals then consider whether to act on?
His (insufficient) arc in ROTJ is that his friends came back for him (although the scene where he more or less acknowledges this was cut, and only
some of the dialogue made it into the replacement), he consciously
recognizes that he belongs -- that he is no longer alone. So when they get back to the fleet, he goes all-in, which is sprung on Leia during the briefing. Of course, the Rebels hung a generalship on Lando, too, so I don't know big a deal that is, since they seem to be handing them out to everyone who'll sign on with them.
I kid.
...But only somewhat. I'd give almost anything to have been able to see all the story that was cut, where Lando and Han would have done the things for the Rebellion that earned them those ranks for the final assault.
[*
Also one of the things that pisses me off when the ball is dropped. In TPM, one of the first things I noticed was the uniforms of the pilots of the ship Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan were in. Same cut as the OT Imperial Starfleet uniforms, but blue, no rank plaques, and no chest pockets for code cylinders. No headgear, either. Both giving a line of continuity to the original film's uniforms that they'd become, and also showing the less militaristic tone of this time in the lack of accoutrements. So when we got the ROTS-coda early-Imperial uniforms, later propagated backward in the Clone Wars animated series, I was right cheesed off that there was such a visually different
uniform now sandwiched between the blue Republic 'military' uniform and the later Imperial Starfleet uniform. Disruption of continuity, muddling of the visual storytelling. And it was ugly, too.]
