Our military force structure once divided officer and enlisted based
on class; nobility vs. the commoner. That was great when men still wore
white tights, but we have since evolved beyond the taste of such
civilities. We eventually replaced the often out-of-reach trait of
nobility with higher education, our nation's version of an out of reach
trait for commoners. Not so any more.
The enlisted force is becoming more educated by the year. Many enlisted, most notably our senior
enlisted, have bachelor’s degrees (31%) and master’s degrees (10%),
while 77% of company grade officers only have bachelor’s degrees. And
while these senior enlisted members bring far more experience to the
table (usually 3 times the number of years), they are still out-ranked
by the lowest of “wet-behind-the-ear” officers.
All of this has led some to begin questioning the legitimacy of
utilizing higher education as a distinguishing trait for organizing our
force structure. This article goes even further by calling into question
the legitimacy of an officer/enlisted structure entirely.
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