NCO questions

S

Sexybeast

Banned
i always have trouble to understand the specific roles of different level of NCOs,

i know there are sergents, staff sergents, first sergents, sergent major, commanding sergent major , even sergent of the army (i just knew it)

so wut are their specific roles,
are anyone of them have more power then an officer?

like i saw the movie We were soldiers, the officers seem to have to obey the orders of sergent major..

isn't sergent major still a NCO?
 
I'll let the NCOs here answer what their roles are, but as to who has more power be it the officer or the Sergeant Major, even a Second Lieutenant is of a higher rank than a Sergeant Major and is addressed as "sir". Now that being said, it would be a foolish _General_ who did not listen to the advice and council of a Sergeant Major. Also nobody short of a Major or Lt. Colonel commanding a battalion is like to give a Sergeant Major a direct order. Lawfully it could be done by more junior officers, but nobody with any sense ever would.
 
That is a pretty big question. I will tell you my 2 cents worth. There is quite a lot that is needed for one to be a good NCO. Read the NCO CREED to understand the general roll of a NCO. I wish more NCOs actually followed the NCO Creed, especially the putting the needs of my soldiers ahead of my own and the earning respect parts.

What it means to be an NCO really depends on what type of job you are in. I am a forward observer. As a FO, I concentrate on calling for fire while my infantry NCO counterpart concentrates on troop leading procedures. Being an NCO in maintenance, commo, medical and other fields differ greatly aswell.

Here are how things work in a normal company of 5 platoons where each platoon is 30-50 soldiers. The Sergeant is a team leader and/or assistant leader. The SGT may have 3 or 4 soldiers to mold, mentor and lead. A Staff Sergeant is mostlikely going to be a squad leader who is in charge of 9 or so soldiers. IN the infantry, there are 2 teams per a squad. The SGT's are the team leaders. With the infantry, I see the squad leaders being strong in leadership. The SSG can decide what standards his squad will follow and how to get a job done that is given to his squad. A Sergeant First Class is normally a platoon sergeant who is in charge of 4 to 5 squads. the SFC will decide how hard to train the platoon and can really influence the daily lives of his/her soldiers. A First Sergeant is incharge of the entire company's training. The 1SG can do almost anything he wants to since only a Sergeant Major can tell him otherwise. A sergeant Major is incharge of training for Battalions, Brigades, divisions and yes, the Army.

Now here is where a NCO is more powerful in the military. In a platoon, the SFC is in charge of training while a 2nd LT leads it. The SFC has had about 14 years +/- of Army experience while the 2LT has had less than 2 years. The SFC is going to know a bit more on how things run in the Army. I saw new 2LT try to override the platoon Sergeant on a subject. the 2nd LT took it to the Company Commander and was shot down. The same goes for a Sergeant Major has many years of experience. I think most have over 20 years in service. The one in We were soldiers had been in WWII and Korea. That is more experience then an entire company put together. From my experience, when a Sergeant Major talks, you listen

I hope I was able to explain everything ok for ya

SGT Doody
 
Officers do not have to obey SgtMaj. Also, you will not see a SgtMaj order an Officer. Most Officers will listen because of the respect of the rank. A lot of that is military politics, it is esy to understand yet hard to explain. I have seen officer's do what Gunny's tell them. It is all a matter of how it is presented and the officer. Marine Corps is E-4 and E-5 are NCO and from E-6 up is SNCO.
 
so lemme get this straight, there is no difference between a regimental Sar-major and a sar-major?
its just two ways of saying the same thing?
 
Only difference is duties at a certain level. They will be handling the same type of duties but Regimental SgtMaj at a higher level with more personel.
 
thank u ppl, i understand very well now, it seems respect sometimes is more important than rank.

one more question, how is the salary of a sergent major?
 
Sexybeast said:
thank u ppl, i understand very well now, it seems respect sometimes is more important than rank.

one more question, how is the salary of a sergent major?
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Remember too that respect must be earned. An NCO is always outranked by a commissioned officer but they work together to accomplish the same mission. BTW a Sergeant Major has a difficult role to play as a liaison between the officers in the battalion or higher staff and the enlisted soldiers without actually being in a position of command. He is the enlisted peoples' representative at his level. To tell you the truth, I never sought that position in my career because I would have likely fallen off that tightrope the CSM has to walk :lol:
 
D-Top, I am guessing you are one of those NCO's who tell it how it is. At the level of a Sergeant Major, a good bit of tact much be used when with high ranking officers. Some officers do not take well to the down and dirty answer :D
 
I have had many "debates" with officers (mostly new lts) that can't seem to understand the difference between the officer's primary responsibility to accomplish the mission and the NCO's job of looking out for the welfare of the men. It takes some of them a while to realize that these are not mutually exclusive. Fortunately, the vast majority eventually understand that caring for the welfare of the men aids in the accomplishment of the mission. The best officers and NCOs alike realize that the soldiers (most of them) can actually be given credit for having enough intelligence to figure this out too. Once that happens, everyone is working on the same page and the unit becomes a successful team.
 
You NCOs will probably love me for this, and I may get some heat from fellow officers for it, but if it were up to me, it would be a requirement that you serve at least two years enlisted before becoming an officer. Many, many times in my career I was so glad I had spent those years enlisted before going to OCS.
 
just about every enlisted soldier, including myself, agrees with you charge 7. Most enlisted guys know which officer has enlisted experience and which ones do not.
 
Charge_7 said:
You NCOs will probably love me for this, and I may get some heat from fellow officers for it, but if it were up to me, it would be a requirement that you serve at least two years enlisted before becoming an officer. Many, many times in my career I was so glad I had spent those years enlisted before going to OCS.
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I agree, and disagree at the same time.

It's important to remember that just because a man has enlisted time, doesn't mean he will be a good officer. I've met horrible officers with enlisted time who were totally worthless POS, while some of the best and most respected officers had none.

Enlisted time certainly couldn't hurt, and it will and does add a broader perspective and experience base, but it won't necessarily make a man a good officer.
 
I agree with RndrSafe. I served with some truley great Mustangs. But I also served with some who were less than stellar.
If your a leader your a leader. Enlisted time maybe valuable but does not make one a leader.
 
RndrSafe, I did not by any means intend to imply that having enlisted time would gaurantee a fine officer. I only meant that it would be a damn useful tool in creating one. What an officer does or doesn't do with the lessons he or she has learned is of course open to the whole range of human reactions.
 
Charge_7 said:
RndrSafe, I did not by any means intend to imply that having enlisted time would gaurantee a fine officer. I only meant that it would be a damn useful tool in creating one. What an officer does or doesn't do with the lessons he or she has learned is of course open to the whole range of human reactions.
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Please don't misunderstand me, I agree with you in premise .. I was simply expounding on the realties for our younger, less experienced members.
 
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