This is what I view as some of the problem we as a profession have allowed to develop. NCOs are always leaders, if we are just allowing them to turn wrenches I have to ask if we as officers are not doing our jobs. OPTEMPO is never an excuse to move move from the fundamentals of leadership at the NCO ranks. Without the time and expectation of leading troops how do we groom the next group of more senior NCOs? Officers have to let NCOs lead. If we don’t you’re wasting resources.
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I agree with you here. The army got rid of the “Specialist-5” and above ranks for this reason, because NCOs are expected to be both technically and tactically proficient leaders. Conversely, I could argue that if the only responsibility they wanted to give the Army was to be technical specialists – they should never have accepted or recommended for a promotion beyond E4. My background is combat arms, so I admit I am viewing this through my lense. I don’t see us as an officer corps doing us or NCOs any favors by letting them become technical specialists at the expense of their tactical leadership.