Officer Vs. Enlisted

[thewookie]

I think Chesty said it best when he said he'd rather be a Marine Sergeant then any Officer. Nothing against the Officer Corps but I tend to agree with Chesty! The only alternative to that is to go enlisted first, learn how it goes, and then apply for some type of commissioning program.

[JCam0331]

Going John Wayne on us,,, JCam? "Fighting soldiers from the sky,,, Fearless men who jump and die".

lol I loved that song when I was a kid !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (well I still am a kid kind of haha)

[JCam0331]

I think Chesty said it best when he said he'd rather be a Marine Sergeant then any Officer. Nothing against the Officer Corps but I tend to agree with Chesty! The only alternative to that is to go enlisted first, learn how it goes, and then apply for some type of commissioning program.

Coming from a man who made it all the way to Lieutenant General...the equivalent of a modern day MEF Commander??

I'd like to see that quote if you please.

I'd guess that Chesty Puller would be a man who embraced greater responsibilities rather than shun from it, and I don't see if you love the challenges of greater responsbility why you would prefer to be a Squad Leader (Sergeant) rather than a Company Commander (Captain)

since it takes approximately the same time to pick up Sgt as it does Captain.

[thewookie]

I had to look it up but this is what I was referring to.

To be a sergeant you have to know your stuff. I’d rather be an outstanding sergeant than just another officer.
—SgtMaj Daniel Daly 1873-1937

And for myself personally, I'd rather be a Sergeant over a Captain. Any day of the week and twice on Tuesday's.

Someday Lance Corporal Cam when and if you achieve the rank of Marine Sergeant, and then you become a Marine Captain, please then let me know what you think. I was simply a Marine Sergeant, and so I can only speak from that experience. Oooh Rah

[JCam0331]

I had to look it up but this is what I was referring to.

To be a sergeant you have to know your stuff. I’d rather be an outstanding sergeant than just another officer.
—SgtMaj Daniel Daly 1873-1937

And for myself personally, I'd rather be a Sergeant over a Captain. Any day of the week and twice on Tuesday's.

Someday Lance Corporal Cam when and if you achieve the rank of Marine Sergeant, and then you become a Marine Captain, please then let me know what you think. I was simply a Marine Sergeant, and so I can only speak from that experience. Oooh Rah

The officer route isn't for everyone, some people just prefer enlisted. I spoke with a Sergeant one time who was a Penn State grad and had a 99 on the ASVAB. He wanted nothing to do with becoming an Officer.

lol well SgtMaj Dan Daly is also an enlisted man so he's biased :-)

[Mikhaelis]

Personally, I think any officer should have to be enlisted first. How can you learn to lead when you can't follow? All Officer ranks should only be open to enlisted ranks first. The biggest problem I had with Marine Corps Leadership was the fact that most officers had no leadership experience and fell to the belief that their word was "God's Law" despite whatever HQMC had to say on a subject.

Marine Officers were very rarely subject to the UCMJ, were not held to the sameunwavering UA standards as enlisted Marines, and many times, were totally incompetent. The sad fact was that was when I was in, all the good officers with real leadership were never augmented out of the reserves, but forced out, and all the ones that would definitely be victoms of friendly fire were not only retained but promoted.

Of course the same can be said of enlisted ranks, but at least the enlisted ranks took care of their own and members of the same rank would set another power tripper straight when he abused his power. This was definitely not the case for Officers.

If you want to learn real leadership then you would have to experience bad leadership from bad officers as enlisted, then go officer to try to be a good leader. Unfortunately OCS didn't teach leadership, it taught rank is right.

[Echo_Four_Bravo]

The worst officer I ever came across was a former NCO. Being enlisted in no way promises that someone will be a better officer. I really think we do a pretty good job of picking officers of Marines now.