The Roles of Officers and NCOs

Prior to the change in policy, many officers took the view that 'second lieutenants are ten-a-penny but good NCOs are hard to find' and refused to put a man's name forward because he was an effective NCO. this was especially so if the man was a good sergeant. (There may be something in this point of view: Discuss.)

Some truth to this, but one reason the Lt's are seen as so worthless, is that so few good candidates are being sent up... The other thing is the mind set. An NCO is very much involved in the day to day workings of a unit...clean socks, when Pvt Schmalltz last wrote home or got mail... food, ammo and water....lots of day to day minutae. It's all very critical, but it's not at all how the young Lt. should be thinking...

The junior officer is thinking about tomorrow, next week, the up coming operation tonight... he is a planner & leader, while the NCO is more of an executor of the present & a supporter of the unit. It's a difficult change in thinking for most, and almost impossible for some. It does make a better officer [in my view], when he understands what his NCO is supposed to be doing, and leaves him the room to do it. Many snot nosed LTs and Captains get into micro-managing things to the point that their NCOs are no longer competent or able to function [having never been allowed to] ... then we have a war and things go to shit, when superman can't do it all [there is a reason the Army put all those leaders in there... it's not just so they can pay more money out....] ... invariably they blame the incompetent NCOs and take away more authority from them. A good officer-senior NCO relationship in a unit is much like a marriage... match the two well and you get a strong and mutually supporting relationship that benefits all concerned.

There used to be an old Prussian model of Soldier types that was humorous but has some truth to it... went something like this:
Hardworking | Lazy
Smart | ---- ---- Stupid |
You made this matrix up and put all your soldiers in one of the boxes....
*Lazy and stupid are your common soldiers- they won't do anything with out being told when and how to do it. The NCOs will manage them nicely.
*Smart and Hardworking are your NCO's...they are the basis of day to day operations.
*Smart and Lazy are Officer material, because they will always be trying to find an easier/quicker way...
*Stupid and Hardworking are rejects, because they are truly dangerous.

An Officer day-dreaming about the future is probably doing work...and NCO day-dreaming about the future is screwing off on the job.

jconeil@primenet.com (Jim O'Neil)