Why do officers outrank enlisted

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More Military Headlines. View more. Yet I would not want a Year 1 WP cadet in charge of a company. It's virtually guaranteed there are at least one or two SNCO in a given company qualified to take a short term command of the company. This would be wiser than placing a WP Year 1 cadet in charge of it. I say these factors because while the SNCO is focused on the lugnut and wheel base the Year 3 cadet is looking at the whole of the Humvee and as much of the landscape around it as he can scope out.

In other words, each the SNCO and the cadet would be functioning appropriately. The reason "cadets" are even mention in a gentlemans role is due to long ago medieval social customs. Cadets were sons of the upper class and were, due to social norms, afforded gentlemans status. Example: In the U. Military a Warrant Officer W-2—W-5 are commissioned but are not gentlemen officers. Warrant Officers are formally addressed as "Mister. A knight officer is a commissioned officer and formally addressed as "SIR!

If married his spouse is always addressed a "Lady so and so. Almost, like her husband, an officer and a lady. Yet, still burdened with the unsocial characteristic of the enlisted class.

Superior to a mere cunning, lazy enlisted man. Even if that enlisted man is the Sgt Maj of the Army. And yes the officer corps views your spouse as just a "wife. Only W1's, lacking a commission, are excepted from Art. Strangely enough, the Services expect the exact same behavior as "officers and gentlemen" and of course ladies from cadets and midshipmen, as they are also subject to Article , even lacking a commission, and some are dismissed from the Service every year for violating Article ….

Will that is incorrect. Ask any SJA. This should not turn into a them vs us type of debate. No one does this better than The Corps.

My NCOs treated me with respect while I was a midshipman, but taught me what it meant. It would be earned when I became the kind of Officer that he would be honored to serve as right hand to.

I bet they could not even remember my name…. I highly doubt any West Point graduate will magically "see the light" after reading my imput on this discussion. Somehow, the memo of shifting demographics of new Soldiers within the Infantry never reached West Point so there's a huge disconnect in reality. IQ averages are around for most Grunts and for those that don't track demographics, that's a huge jump from national averages.

In my experience we rarely see a decent new officer come out of West Point and it's really sad. We get people whose ideals are from left field and seem to think the Army is their play ground. We always give you a chance before we let you sink your career all on your own.

When you focus on things that scare you to death, always remember that those are your fears and we're not concerned with achieving the next rank or a nice review. Good Grunts care less for their next promotion beyond making sure our records are correct. And you'll have to deal with the reality that there are better men out there and you may be in over your head but don't blame others for your shortcomings.

We want to mold a new Officer to become a great leader we can always remember but there's a limit to what we're willing to do. And if for one second you think any Infantrymen will ever do something that violates our Constitutional form of government, you've made the worst assumption of your young life. I see that USMA had a proud communist recently graduate, he might as well spit in my face and all other better warriors than myself before me. While in Iraq in we got a batch of 12 west pointer kids and more than half were momma's boys and short of a huge shift in their personality and ideals, they're too far gone in the head to be respectable leaders.

Why hasn't a single one of you been taught that humility, respect and honor flows both ways but in different fashions? The ones that get emotional about my post will reply as expected and miss the lesson altogether because they've been hard wired to respond that way. The Army is always evolving but power bitches have always been around, we just don't frag them as we used to.

His approach to us was simple and he asked lots of questions about how to best kill tanks and he found that each man has their own method of how they like to do things and tactics they like or dislike and for what reasons. As he worked in our platoon, we all quietly covered for him, especially when he got misoriented now and then analog land nav isn't simple, especially when mounted after a few months he was squared away and we taught him our secrets and he never betrayed us. The regulations can only go so far in some jobs and situations in our Army and beyond that you need to be resourceful or have friends who are.

I really wish I didn't have to speak this way about you kids but most of you did the West Point thing for power or prestige, both of which are useless to Infantrymen, we care less what college you went to, if you can't think on your feat when round crack by you then you get my men killed.

Then again for the same categories who were on rear detachment duties! I was going through a few operations connected to wound recovery. And get to know your PBO very well! Don't assume a damn thing, if a young NCO or Soldier tells you he "thinks" the vehicle is ready or has a full tank of fuel, hand him a long stick, send him back to the Motor Pool, have him put the stick into the fuel tank and bring back said stick with fuel on it, that way both of you will now KNOW that the vehicle is fueled.

Tell the NCO's that you don't want to seem like a dick that you're being so picky on things, you're just building trust so later you know who's good to go and what each of our strengths are and that goes for the young LT as well that's called humility and the men will understand because it's fair. Most of us own our own firearms and body armor because we assume nothing but pray for the best. And if you think islam is a warm and fuzzy religion, you're way off! Always seek the minority view of any situation or story!

It's often hard to find but its often the real truth on a subject especially if it's being spoon fed to you in briefs and media. Be safe out there, use the "recon by fire" method if probing a road and drop to the ground when a frag is near you, the explosion goes up and away.

And keep your mouth open and eyes covered with your hands when it or any other explosion goes off near you. I'm laughing as I remember when our sniper team took out 16 combatants at one road intersection in Falujah, Iraqi's have an average IQ of 70 so they aren't the brightest candle on the cake, lol.

Then we'd mow the guy down with an M4. Speed is your friend in a convoy, never drive slower than the rest of the civilian traffic, that way when a bad guy is trying to catch up to your convoy, he sticks out big time and the rear vehicle can easily engage him. In we never went slower than 55, usually 60 MPH and we never lost anyone.

That one NCO who doesn't give a crap about you is the one you should be talking to. Hey brother. Word of advice, if you want to write an op-Ed then you should submit it for publication.

Nobody reads your comments past the first four lines. Everybody read it. Long story short: Years of hands-on experience trumps reading an instruction manual, This applies in every situation and every single time.

Coming straight out of a college any college prepares you for exactly nothing. What comes after is when the real learning begins. Pro-Tip: Don't make a blog post, offer a comment section, then expect not to be schooled by your elders, especially when taking a condescending tone. Life Hope this was brief enough for you or TL:DR? Your attitude will get you relegated to a Quonset hut in BFE. A very interesting thread.

A little ancient cadet history for anyone interested. I was an Air Force Aviation Cadet during the late 's. Requirements for a USAF Aviation Cadet at the time were two years of college and passing scores on a series of IQ and skills tests such as mathematics, logic, and spatial relations.

While the other sources trained and commissioned officers for all USAF career fields, the Aviation Cadet Corps produced only pilots and navigators. We were enlisted in the Air Force for a two year enlistment. Aviation Cadet training was 15 months. The two year enlistment term allowed for cadets who had to temporarily halt training because of illness or injury. The first three months were preflight training at Lackland AFB where we were taught basic military skills such as customs and courtesies, UCMJ, drill, Air Force history, parachute training, confidence course, and firearms training.

During cadet training we were paid at the rate of an E5. Upon completion of preflight we went to flight school. Pilot and navigator cadets went to different flight schools. In flight school cadets qualified for flight pay in addition to their regular pay. In those days once a month you went before the pay officer and received your pay in cash. Upon the successful completion of flight school cadets received their flight wings and were commissioned as second lieutenants and incured an additional four year service commitment.

Both preflight and flight school were run under the traditional cadet model of upperclass and lowerclass where upperclassmen were responsible for much of the military training and discipline of the lowerclassmen. Interestingly, when a graduating cadet received his commission, there were no females in the cadet corps in those days , his commission was backdated 15 months to the date he entered the cadet program, giving him a lead on promotion to first lieutenant.

Regarding saluting courtesy in the cadet corps. Cadets saluted officers of all United States uniformed services. Cadets were not entitled to receive salutes from enlisted personnel. Within the cadet corps there was a rank structure and cadets saluted other cadets with rank above theirs.

Interestingly, one weekend I had a pass and visited a college friend at a nearby naval base where he was undergoing Navy Aviation Cadet training.

I was surprised at the gate when I was saluted by the gate personnel. I was further saluted by all enlisted personnel I encountered on base. My friend confirmed that Navy Aviation Cadets rated salutes by enlisted personnel, at least they did at that time. The Air Force Aviation Cadet program was fazed out during the mid 's as the Air Force Academy became the primary source of flight rated officers.

Some of the comments left in this thread have really let me down. Other than those few, I feel as though the future is bright. I thought this is a very well written article. I let crap roll off of my back, but when I attended Fort Knox this last summer there were way too many NCOs who had a big chip on their shoulder.

I found myself going toe to toe with these junior NCOs and enlisted, but not to destroy their souls as the NCO in me wanted to do so badly but to talk to them and help them understand that if you treat these cadets like crap, it will be returned 10 fold in a year when they commission, hate NCOs, and are their raters.

They won't forget what you've shown them and they will resent you. I believe my words only carried weight because I've already been in the Army for 10 years and the Senior cadre knew this I didn't get in any trouble. That just goes to show that the regular cadets get crapped on and they can't change it. I've seen this relationship play out in the Army. I had a CO at one point who absolutely had a genuine dislike for NCOs and believed them to be useless.

It made it very difficult to operate as an NCO under his command. Things are changing around you and you're failing to adapt. The key to success in your career is understanding the strengths and weaknesses of your key players AKA your subordinate leaders and junior Soldiers.

They are everywhere and plugged into everything. Allow them to lead you too! You can't lead if you don't know how to follow. Enough of my rant! I hope this sheds some light on things. I'm not a regular progression cadet so this is a better look at the situation. I wore the Cadet rank insignia of 2LT. As that was a long time ago, my memories of the experience were that it was the best and the worst of both worlds.

From the enlisted perspective, while drilling with my Guard unit, there was confusion as to where exactly Cadets fit in to the scheme of things. From the junior officer perspective we were seen as coffee and errand boys. From the senior officer perspective we were largely ignored. The one group that actually gave us respect and tried to help and mentor us were the senior NCOs. For lack of official guidance I was assigned as an assistant platoon leader in an Armored Cavalry Company and my platoon sergeant was a former Navy Seal with combat tours in Vietnam along with other unmentionable places during that conflict.

I felt honored to have him there. So I think he had it right. As others have commented, folks should remember that those Cadets that you give a hard time to will in a short time become those officers that are in charge of writing your NCOERs never mind the fact that they also will be your leaders when deployed in a combat zone I served in the 1st Cav Div during Desert Shield and Storm , in other words garbage in equals garbage out.

As an humorous aside, earlier I mentioned that the junior officers in my reserve unit treated cadets as little more than errand boys. I have to say that I got a little bit of vindication when I went back to obtain some records from my old guard unit. I was now an active duty Captain with a right shoulder patch a big deal in those days and a couple of combat medals on my chest not bragging but including because of the story.

Due to the nature of promotions in the Guard at the time, he was still serving as the XO and was still a 1st LT. Cream only. Now it was said in good humor. And taken that way. Point is that one never knows what lies down the road so I try to treat everyone with respect regardless of their rank or position. I was assigned to the 25th ID in I don't mean to take anything away from the Point but my first platoon leader was the finest officer I ever served under. I really liked the story and learned something as well having been a former SMP Cadet before I commissioned.

This article reminded me of something that raised a question for me after I received my commission and that had to do with LTs saluting each other.

Per diem from a mission? Gonna get messed up. You better be nice when you go to finance to get it fixed, though. Sure, they might be the ones who screwed it up. But the people who are rude to finance have a lot more headaches while getting pay fixed.

So be polite, be professional, and just dream about beating everyone you meet. Finance will eventually fix the mistake and garnish your wages. Your plane is late. And the pilot is drunk. And the fueler is missing. The initial mission or travel plans for any Army scheme will likely have time built in for breaks, for maintenance, for error. But as D-Day comes closer and closer, tweaks and changes will yank all of that flex time out of the timeline until every soldier has to spend every moment jumping out of their own butt just to keep up.

All big missions will have logistics plans, and they might be filled with all sorts of support that sounds great. Dropping uniform tops, driving in all-terrain vehicles, and piling up sandbags are all fine.

But pulling an umbrella in that same weather will cause some real heartache. Look, no one likes a soldier who jacks gear. But there are some rules to grabbing gear or property.