Posted on Jan 2, 2014
Can anyone tell me why the Senior Officer is labeled at the 6 and the Senior Enlisted is the 7.
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Posted 12 y ago
Responses: 6
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Great question and I had to do some research on this one as I didn't know the actual history. This explanation seems as plausible as the rest I've seen.
Today, while many commanders use "6" to designate their leadership role, Weitzel said the practice of using "6" didn't begin until World War II. "There is no official origin of the '6' designation, but it is believed that its origin dates back to World War II when the regimental combat team was the lowest level radio nets were pushed down to," Weitzel said. "The regimental commander was usually a colonel, O-6, and he would be the '6' on the radio. Being a former communications guy myself, I find this origin the most credible."
This came from the following article:
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This is an interesting question. The only explanation I can think of is that maneuver units typically have 4 elements. Therefore:
1st Maneuver Element = 1
2nd Maneuver Element = 2
3rd Maneuver Element = 3
4th Maneuver Elmenet = 4
Then you head into the Command Group, and...
XO = 5
CO = 6
Senior Enlisted = 7
I have not idea if this is historically correct or not. It would make more sense to have the Command Group be 1, 2, 3, to make room for units with many maneuver elements... but again, this is all just a guess.
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SFC (Join to see)
Sir,
That's what I would think also. But I may be looking at it different, as the S1=1 S2=2 and so on, but as you get to Signal which is also the 6, that's where it throws that preverbial monkey wrench into the equation. So, I can see your point.
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SFC Stephen P.
Back in the day, the SIGO was the 9 element. I don't know where S-6 came from, but there was no such animal in my grunt days.
FWIW: the BMO was the 8
FWIW: the BMO was the 8
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