Search Forum Home   Starfist Headquarters  Starfist HQ General Forum  Officers and NC...  Officers and NCOs   hellawulf 18 posts Joined 10/12/2007 Officers and NCOs Posted: 10 Jul 08 10:46 AM To those servicemen here on the forum (active and veterans both), what exactly is it about officers that makes the newest Second Lieutenant/Ensign more competent than a Private? What is it they learn in OCS that entitles them to a commission? And for NCOs, how do they teach new officers how to become good officers? Does it come to a point where you have to take them aside and say ‘Sir, pull your head out of your arse’ or is it usually done more diplomatically? Skink 1060 posts Joined 12/17/2007 Re: Officers and NCOs Posted: 10 Jul 08 6:54 PM Ask Danners he's the closest thing on this site to an officer. David was a Lance Corporal. Or was he a Corpral? Uhhhhhh, don't really know but Dan and David should know since they dined with Generals ( I just made that up, I don't know if they really did. Although it would be very cool if Danners could introduce us to Wes Clark) barcelonablom 140 posts www.4mardiv.com/index.html Joined 4/19/2006 Re: Officers and NCOs Posted: 11 Jul 08 8:33 AM  hellawulf wrote To those servicemen here on the forum (active and veterans both), what exactly is it about officers that makes the newest Second Lieutenant/Ensign more competent than a Private? What is it they learn in OCS that entitles them to a commission? And for NCOs, how do they teach new officers how to become good officers? Does it come to a point where you have to take them aside and say ‘Sir, pull your head out of your arse’ or is it usually done more diplomatically? Nobody said that the Officer is more competent than an enlistedman. In fact with a lot of cases I can think of, the Private is less competent then the officer too (because on both sides you have those ones that just don't quite "get it"). Now if you read Recon II, Dan and Dave bring up the golden rule of being a new officer, talk to your Senior NCO(s) they know what they are doing. Ironically in their universe they're telling all mustangs (enlisted who get a commission) to do something they should have known from their small unit leadership (combat or not). Sadly I'm in the airwing, we get pilots who are usually 1st Lieutenants sometimes even Captains (or are shortly promoted to Captain), but they have a clean slate qualification-wise for the F/A-18, and imo most never learn how to interract with us enlisted. They aren't bad guys its just they've been learning to fly their entire career, unit leadership hasn't been their focus for the last couple years. Now today's OCS/TBS product is a much better quality than the "90 day wonders" of WWII, but still the true measure is how they lead once they begin leading. Time and Experience (and the guiding hands of a few good SNCOs and NCOs) is what will make "salt" an officer, the same for the private too. DavidS 988 posts www.novelier.com Joined 1/23/2006 Re: Officers and NCOs Posted: 22 Jul 08 2:45 PM The big differences are, the newly minted brown bar has a college education and is 22-23 years old. Supposedly more mature. The private probably has only a highschool educations and is likely 19-20 years old. But, hey, the most dangerous person in the world is a 19-year-old Marine with a loaded rifle. Generally older, better educated, and supposedly more mature. But not necessarily all that bright. True story: When I was a lance corporal (I ended up as a corporal, Skink) with the 4th Marines in Hawaii, my platoon got this brand, spanking new boot brown bart. On one of his first days with the platoon he conducted a rifle inspection. He got to me, looked down the barrel of my M14, and gigged me for it having a cruddy bore--disciplinary action of some sort was in the offing. I was outraged, because I knew my rifle was spotless. The lieutenant showed it to me. The only thing I saw was the gas port. He couldn't possibly be that dumb, so I didn't point that out to him, just said I didn't see what he did. So he showed it to the platoon sergeant, who looked and said, "Yessir, I see what the lieutenant sees. I glared at him, but he signaled me to be cool. As soon as the inspection was over, I went to the platoon sergeant and started to let loose on him. He cut me off and said not to worry, he'd take care of it. He did, and nothing more was said of the incident. But the next time that lieutenant inspected the platoon, he took my rifle and just handed it back without even looking at it. I gotta give him credit, he almost looked embarrassed. Skink 1060 posts Joined 12/17/2007 Re: Officers and NCOs Posted: 22 Jul 08 9:11 PM Wow David, you rock!  Page 1 of 2 12Next    Starfist Headquarters  Starfist HQ General Forum  Officers and NC... Flat View Tree View Oldest To Newest Newest To Oldest