who would be the most vulnerable on a battlefield, an infantry officer or an infantry soldier?

Question

I was wondering this because officers should and many do, lead from the front. Also, they would be a much better target for the enemy as they are in command of the men. However, soldiers are sometimes told what to do and do all of the
cr appy jobs. If you look at casualties in iraq, there are a lot more soldiers killed than officers but if you look at in terms of percentages, officers make up only about 15% of the armed forces and many still od die.
What do you guys think, who would be at most risk on a battlefield- officer or soldier.

Answer 1

Officer, without them the soldiers would be in disarray and not know what to do on the field.

Answer 2

One is in as much danger as another, the fact that there are more enlisted men than officers naturally leads to a higher percentage of enlisted casualties. However all officers must take their turn in the front line to learn they're job 2nd Lieutenant's, 1st lieutenant's. However officers wear the same uniform as the enlisted men so it would be hard for the enemy in the heat of battle to single them out. I know if I was in a battle I would look for the radio operator and get him because he is the main link back up the chain of command, and usually the officer is not far away from his comms man.

Answer 3

The rule in the British Army is that the Officer leads, so the Platoon Commander, probably a young 2nd Lieutenant, will be among the muck and the bullets. He will, however, probably be discreetly guided by a senior NCO - corporal or sergeant.

The more senior officers also have a tough deal, at least in conventional warfare, as any enemy commander worth his salt will try to take out his adversaries HQ as soon as possible, so, command vehicles, often betrayed by the number of radio aerials, will be the cynosure of shot, and Battalion, Brigade and Divisional HQs will also, if identified, be subjected to considerable artillery fire and aerial attack.

Answer 4

An infantry soldier every time. You only have to look in a Military Cemetery to see that vastly more Soldiers were killed compared with Officers even allowing for the disparity in numbers between Soldiers and Officers.

Answer 5

Depends on how well-organised the army is. If officers are conspicuous (by rank insignia etc), enemy snipers with any sense will target them rather than common soldiers. However, staff officers and the like tend to be less vulnerable, because they aren't on the actual battlefield. On balance, I don't suppose it makes much difference.

Answer 6

The officers are always our first targets if possible. I was on a Colonel's tank and were always a target. Mainly because we had 5 antennas sticking up from our tank.
You break the chain of command and confuse the enemy.
Who's going to know how to give better orders, a CPT, a SGT or a PVT? Shoot the Sergent first if there is no officer around to shoot.

Answer 7

professional snipers tend to go for officers if they can which is why many officers stopped wearing distinctive uniform and carrying swords. We used to remove all such badges of rank. Percentage wise, officers are more likely to die than the regular makhra, in Great Patriotic war, officers made up 24% of fatalities, compared to 11% enlisted men

Answer 8

The lead soldier is always the safest in any situation. If you are the enemy, you are sitting around and you see a guy run past you, damn, too late to hit that one, you get the second man. It gets progressively worse the further back you are. Thats why no one wants to be tail end charlie.

Answer 9

Butterbars tend to die at an extraordinarily high rate. In Iraq, things are peculiar, because there are very few combat casualties in the usual fashion. IED's, mines, and rockets don't follow the standard patterns.

Answer 10

during world war1 any infantry who killed an enemy officer got a bottle of wine. during the vietnam war an officer was killed every 27mins. i think the officers have it tougher than the infantryman but even during peace time if something goes wrong with his regiment or platoon the officers always get the blame even if they had nothing to do with it. plus its not easy getting the respect of your soldiers its easier to hate them or fear them.