Quote:
Originally Posted by johndallman
Now, it’s usually a bad idea for green commissioned officers to override senior enlisted, but they do have that power if enlisted are limited to Rank 2. Do American senior NCOs have the power to override junior officers? SEALS in Vietnam seems to say that they can, with Rank 4 Master Chief Petty Officers who definitely outrank Rank 3 Ensigns and Lieutenants Junior Grade. Or is this some subtlety of American command that I’m not aware of?
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In the US the most junior officer still outranks the most senior enlisted. But if some fresh 2nd lieutenant tried to get uppity with the sergeant major I can pretty much guarantee that a captain or major would take him aside and beat some sense into him. OTOH the sergeant major is
by definition a good soldier, so if LT tells him that something really has to be done, he'll do it. Well, if it isn't
obvious nonsense. But if LT starts to do something profoundly stupid his E7 should be drawing his red card and saying "Are you sure about that, Sir?"
But SOCOM is... different. Especially SEALS. I have heard a lot of SEAL officers whine that in retrospect they should have gone enlisted because once they get a little rank they stop doing almost anything in the field- they become administrators, and the teams are really run by senior enlisted guys. Ensigns and JGs do field stuff basically as a sort of orientation to what they are going to do during planning later in their careers.
US Army Special Forces is similar though not as extreme- the highest enlisted guy is even called the "team daddy" and he runs the shop. The officers
and him come up with the plan, but he executes it and has pretty significant authority while doing so. By nature of their mission though (hearts & minds, etc.) the officers still do a lot... but they don't tell daddy how to run his house.
One might describe USSOCOM as "informal", I guess? They really don't care about rank much- they care if you can do the job. And they promote you
fast once you are proven. There are a lot of damned young E8s wandering around SOCOM. I did a three-day patrol with some SELAS once and a young guy who was only a couple of years out of BUDS was put in charge of the refueling operations. That could have gone horribly if he'd screwed up the planning- another Black Hawk Down moment, MRAPs with empty tanks stranded in the middle of Indian country.
I think a lot of people who haven't been in the military overestimate how strictly hierarchical it is. I mean, yes, there is
definitely hierarchy. But once you make E6 or so there can be debate and discussion, too. Don't get me wrong- when the heat is on and you get an order, you damned well execute! But a good CO
wants to hear peoples' ideas.
Also, recall that GURPS sets Rank according to
how many people you command. (Obviously there is some wiggle in there, though.) So for instance a professional like a doctor or a lawyer might be high in rank, but if he isn't in a
command position at the moment his GURPS Rank would be low, perhaps with the difference made up in Courtesy Rank. As a major I was the commander of a Forward Surgical Team. And actually I was in an O4 slot as an O3- by doctrine FSTs are commanded by a lieutenant colonel. But an FST is only 20 people, so my
GURPS Rank would have been equivalent to a
platoon sergeant, with the rest made up of Courtesy Rank! Likewise, a
staff officer might have a relatively low Rank commensurate with a corporal since his staff is only a half a dozen folks or so, but with some Courtesy Rank on top.
If this seems like a bit of a kludge, well, it is. The rank system in GURPS is imperfect- it's more appropriate for a medieval military, I'd say. (Not unlike it's economic system.) But it'll do for 99% of useages.