I'm not trying to sound rude or offensive when I ask this question?

Question

But what makes a person want to be an NCO for their entire career? Contrary to popular belief that all enlisted are "uneducated," these high ranking senior NCO's usually have more than 1 degree. Also, most of these people have done things that I could never imagine in my wildest dream. Now I understand that their jobs are immensly important. But I'm just curious as to what the personal reasons are for a person with a 20+ year military career to stay enlisted for that entire time as opposed to becoming an officer at some point during their tenure. Thanks for your answers everyone.

Answer 1

I would have to disagree with you. I spent 21 years in the US Army, and retired as an E-7. I had ZERO degrees. Did I not take college? No, I did take college classes but did not get the degree. I was not in the minority in this either. Oh, and in case you think I was uneducated or in a go no place job, I was actually in Military Intelligence. Go figure, talk about Oxymorons!

Why did I not become an officer (I did have enough to go to OCS) I preferred to actually get to do my job and not be worried about how my Officer Efficiency Report (OER) was.

I used to sometimes tell Second Lieutenants that they were even lower than Privates. And I would explain to them that the reason for this was when there was a need for an Officer In Charge (OIC) the consensus was always "Give it to the new Lt.!"

Answer 2

Think of the military as an Auto Manufacturing Plant...

You have the Privates which are like the assembly line Workers...

You have the NCO which are like the line Foreman...

You have Warrant officers which are like the engineers and technicians

and you have the Officers which are like the CEO's

While Officers may have more prestige and status as far as rank and pay...NCO's receive their prestige and status by their "hands on" in regrads to mission and working with troops...

For example...If you take a look at the Special Forces ... The "High Speed" guys who jump in the middle of the night and take out bad guys ... are NCO's...The Officers are the tactical planners...The officer's job is to mannage personnel, equipment, and time so that NCO ans Soldiers can conduct the mission...Going back to the Auto plant...the CEO does not have to know how to build a car...He only has to know how many people to hire, marketing, sales, transprotation and distribution....The NCO or Foreman...has to know how to build the car and how it works...If something goes wrong on the line...you don't go to the CEO you go to the foreman or the tech....Same thing in the military ... If you have a problem...you goto the NCO....So bottom line...Is job satisfaction...Officer's lead...NCO's run the military...

Answer 3

Because as a senior NCO your at the top of the food chain.

As a LT your just a private with better pay longer hours and less respect than a buck sargeant.

officers generally don't get above Major or Light Colonel.

and after that you start hoping for slots to open up.

you can get to sargeant first class with little worry about having to compete for slots.

by that time your looking for a good place to retire--not starting off at the bottom again.

Answer 4

Having been BOTH an officer and an NCO ( held every rank from private to captain ,except CSM ) I can tell you ....

Working as an NCO and an officer is not the same world..... requires very different skills, styles and values.....

The assumption that officers are smarter or more educated is obviously silly..... any officer who thinks that is destined for a short career...

a famous quote from an old Officers Guide Book said, " Beware of the NCO. He is often sly and crafty"

I enjoyed being an officer for the assignments and benefits.... I also could relate to and work with NCO's. My failing was NOT being able to work with other officers.... I abhor stupidity coupled with an inflated ego.... I found several of those in my career. Not all officers were that way but enough to irritate me

I also enjoyed getting down in the dirt as an NCO.....I enjoyed working with troops so much I turned down CSM so I could continue to be a team sergeant.....

One of the things that bothered me as an NCO was the fact that many NCO's would have and easily could have been GOOD officers.....but they had the mistaken opinion that officers were "above" them..... when in fact we are all about the same.....just the job is different

Answer 5

To put it into civilian terms, not everyone wants to run a company or a division of a company.  Some are happy working with labor and making sure things get done the right way, by the right people, in the right amount of time.  As a SNCO,  that's what you do.  You're making sure the job gets done so the mission can be completed.  Also, SNCO's are the ones who are fighting for the lower enlisted folks.  They are the ones driving many of the new programs we see coming in, not the officer corp.

Also, there are age and TIS cut-offs to make that switch.

Finally... look at the numbers...  If a person makes it to E-8, they are in the top 3% of the US enlisted military.  If a person makes it to E-9, they are the top 1%.  These are numbers set by law... these guys are the best of the best.  The best managers, the best logicians, the best technicians, and the best advocates for the rest of the enlisted corp.

There is nothing wrong with being labor or middle management.  Someone has to do those jobs, whether in the miitary or the civilian world.

Answer 6

As a senior, NCO, you'd end up making more money than a lower rank officer, and it is harder to move up in the officer chain than it is in the NCO chain.  Its not necessarily that they're uneducated, its that they've spent their time as an NCO, and moving towards an officer's position would end up losing them money... and time.

Answer 7

I am not sure were Lee is from but most the NCOs I have worked with have a B.A. or close to it.

I came in with a B.A. and planned on dropping my packet fo OCS.   I made SGT pretty quick and enjoyed being an NCO.  Most I talked to who had converted liked being an NCO more than a Commissioned Officer, so I never dropped my packet and pay day is the only day I regret it.

Answer 8

We all make personal choices. I am thankful for anyone who serves even so I deplore war.

Ingrid

Answer 9

ok you must be in a pre historic time if you did not know 80% of NCO's have a college degree in todays army.  Plus once you put on stripes you dont want to be an Officer if you are true to training Soldiers and i guess you have not heard that NCO's train officers they have college but in the army they are very very uneducated.  Every great officer has a great NCO to thank for their success TRUST ME.

Answer 10

That is an interesting question as my father was an NCO for about thirty years and I was in the army twice.   One of the reasons  has to do with the type of military occupational specialty they are in.  In the medical field a lot of talented NCO's move on to become officers.  There is a lot of competition to do it this way.  Another way is to go to officer candidate school.  My brother did this after becoming an NCO in the Green Berets.  Again, the test scores have to be pretty high to go that route, and when I was in one could only come out an officer in either infantry or artillery, both combat specialties, and revert back to the  original  rank after ten years.