I've put off reading Revelation and wasn't aware Rapture isn't mentioned. Thanks for your kind response, I'll be reading with interest to find out what I should already know.
Reading Revelation without first being familiar with a couple of other things will just confuse you. If you are seriously interested in understanding the last book of Scripture, let me suggest that you first study Daniel 9, the prophecy of the Seventy Weeks. After you've done that, read the Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24-25 and Mark 13) and cross-reference the event mentioned in both, the Abomination of Desolation. You may wish to actually draw yourself an outline.
After that, you can dive into Revelation and plot it on your timeline. I think you'll find that the fifth seal neatly corresponds to the Great Tribulation and that the sixth corresponds to the "signs in the heavens" that Jesus described as accompanying His Coming. You'll also find that Revelation does not depict events in strictly chronological order.
If you get stuck and want someone to kick ideas around with, feel free to email me at mdbugg@msn.com. I'll be happy to try to get you unstuck while leading you as little as possible.