If college is free in the military, why are so many men just soldiers and not officers?

Question

Why would someone spend 20 years in the army, and only rise to a staff sargent. When a 22 year old kid goes through basic training after R.O.T.C. and out ranks the sargent as an officer?

Answer 1

Not everyone wants to be an officer. Not everyone CAN be an officer. Enlisted people have as many or more degrees as officers do anyway. The point is that the Military takes care of and educates ALL of it's people, not JUST the officer corps.

Example: I know a chief master sergeant who has a bachelors, a double masters, and is currently finishing his second doctoral degree.

Answer 2

While it's true the 22 year old Lt. out ranks a guy like me that retired as an Air Force MSgt (E-7), there's a huge difference in the officer's duties and an NCOs. The officer is more administrator while the NCO is the manager, trainer, teacher, leader, etc and without NCOs, junior officers can do some pretty dumb things because some are embarrassed to ask an enlisted guy something they don't know. Any junior officer that doesn't go to a competent Senior NCO for guidance now and again isn't going very far.

I never had the urge to be a politician the officers must be, but found the more rank I obtained the more politics crept into my life.

Education was never a problem. I got a great education but I wanted to do the job I was trained to do from the level I was at. I worked with the imagery from SR-71 and U-2 reconnaissance aircraft for a number of years among other photographic jobs. It just doesn't get anymore interesting than that for me.

I earned a decent amount as a Senior NCO so I'm not complaining and had the respect of officers and enlisted alike. The military needs officers and enlisted folks or else it wouldn't be much of a military.

Answer 3

"Why would someone spend 20 years in the army, and only rise to a staff sargent."

A soldier in the Army should be able to attain the rank of Staff Sergeant in about 5 to 6 years. If this is the highest rank a soldier reached after 20 years, then he/she was probably not blessed with the aptitude to make it through college.

"When a 22 year old kid goes through basic training after R.O.T.C. and out ranks the sargent as an officer?"

Though the 22-year-old 2nd Lieutenant may outrank the Staff Sergeant, the 2nd Lt. would be a complete idiot if he did not listen to his experienced Staff NCO before making any decisions and issuing any orders.

The military is not a club that allows you to go to college for free. It is extremely difficult to complete college courses while serving full-time in the military, especially with the current operations tempo, a result of the global war on terrorism.

That said, there are a few programs that allow some active duty enlisted to attend college full time. These enlisted to officer programs are free. Once completed, the enlisted person is commissioned and goes through the basic officer training.

There are also programs in the military that let you save money for college while you are active duty. The military may also contribute a percentage of what you set aside each month. When your term is up, you can attend college. You may decide to go for a commission and come back in as an officer.

A person with the aptitude for college may choose to enlist in the military first for many reasons. One reason would be if that person did not have the funding for college. Another would be to experience the military as an enlisted person. There may be as many reasons as there are people.

Answer 4

It's not that simple.

1. Congress controls how many officer slots there are, so everyone cannot be an officer.

2. Just because you have a BS degree, doesn't mean your an Officer.

3. Most senior enlisted now have BS Degees, its almost impossible to be promoted to Sgt. major without a BS degree today.

4. They don't want a pay cut. An E-6 with 6 years in, would take a pay cut, to be a 2nd Lt.

5. It's not as easy as most people think, to get a BS degree while on active duty.

Yes, it can be done, but it involves alot of sacrifice time wise, to do so.

6. The jobs and responsibilties are completely dofferent, most people like doing what they are doing.

Somthing, they wouldn't be able to do, if they were commissioned.

It's no differnt in the civilan world.

Im a supervisor at a factory now, and we have a hard time, getting regular employees to want to be associate supervisors or supervisors.

We usually end up, having to go outside the company to find them, even though the pay is alot better than the regular employees make.

They just don't want the hastles and responsibility.

Answer 5

College is not for everyone. Some don't have the money to pay for college before they enlist. To be an Officer, you have to have a Bachelor's Degree or some college and time as an enlisted person. Being an Officer isn't always better than being enlisted. Yes, they make more money, but money doesn't constitute happiness. If someone is happy doing their job as enlisted person, why would they want to take a position where they would sit behind a desk all day and push papers? Most E-7 to E-9s have a little more say than a brand new O-1 right out of OCS. They have the experience and the knowledge. By the way, college is never free anywhere you go. To receive TA as an enlisted person, you only get $4500 a year and must complete the courses before your contract is up. It helps a lot, but it takes a lot of time to work full time, go to school, and raise a family. In order for Officers to get full TA, they must commit one extra year on their contract in some cases after they have completed a course. The GI Bill only covers about one year of college, maybe a little more depending on what school you choose to go to.

Answer 6

1) you have to have a position to get into as an officer. 2) some individuals are not made to be officers (some have enought trouble walking and chewing gum at the same time) 3) some prefer not to be officers because they believe that the job they would do would make a difference by being enlisted and not officer. and My personnal favorite 4) In many situations in the military an officer is "assigned" to an NCO or SNCO to insure that the officer knows what they are doing before they are assigned to a platoon leaders position.

Answer 7

Not everybody want to be an Officer. NCO's train and lead their men. Officers are usually a figurehead who is ultimately responsible for everything, but not much else. More of the paperwork and politics side of things. Especially the higher up you go in rank. Not to say that many NCO's don't have enough college to become Officers (many do) ,or that they wouldn't make great Officers. They just prefer the hands-on role of being an NCO. Everything is not about money in life. Especially in the military.

Answer 8

R.O.T.C. is not for everyone and not everyone qualifies for it. They either don't get accepted or don't have the grades to get into college.

I spent 6 years enlisted in the Navy and loved it. I took many college courses while on Active duty and had to pay for my books but received up to 70% back for selling the books back. I did not have to pay tuition. So It was great. By the time I left the navy I had almost all my credits to graduate from College with my degree.

Its difficult to get your degree or to go to college while in the service but it can be done. Your first duty is to your military service and your second duty is for everything else.

Answer 9

What kind of army could possibly operate with only officers? People who enlist, do so because they want to. If someone spends a few years in the Army and does not move up, to his own satisfaction, he can get out when his enlistment is up.

Answer 10

Many NCOs have college degrees and prefer to stay on the enlisted side. As far as those who do not have the degree, sometimes there is no time to get the degree b/c they're working their butts off going on deployments and TDYs to even have time to go to class.