Do you have any tips on how best to work with many SNCO and Officers around you?

SPC (Join to see) Take a deep breath and do your best. Be professional, and do your job well. Don't ever become complacent or too comfortable.

Yes Sir... No Sir ... 3 Bags Full Sir...

Put into practice what you learned. The officers can be addressed by their rank or sir. Same goes for the 8 & 9's. Respect never goes out of style. If you spend a lot of time interacting with them, use their last name when addressing them, just be sure to not drop their rank, i.e., Captain Smith.

Practice Makes Perfect. Oh My. I can Appreciate as an E-3 right out of A-School I was assigned to CINCPACFLT Staff. Keep the Professionalism You Learned in Boot Camp and Insert Your Own Identity and Personality into that Professionalism. In 21 Years I would serve on 2 Admirals Staff and in Direct Support of Another. I have Faith in You Brother! CTO1 Wm "Chip" Nagel USN(R). Master at Arms to Commander Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command and Off Line Encryption Operator for Commander in Chief United States Pacific Fleet.

I work in a similar position. At the top of the list is to always be respectful, and don't be nervous whenever they have a conversation with you. Most of them have been where you are now at some point in their careers so you have a plentiful amount of knowledge around you for both career and life questions. Always be on top of your game, be that best that you can be at what you do, it's an amazing sensation when you become the 'Go-To-Guy' but always stay humble.

Like a lot of these Gentleman have stated. Customs and courtesies. I'm in somewhat of the same boat. Minus the stars part. But in aviation I deal with a lot of officers from Cw2 - Colonels. They walk the same way we do, there isn't anything to be worried about. As long as you do your best at your job, honestly that's all they care about. If they see you need improvement anywhere they'll let you know what you can do to change it. Best of luck to you.

One more thing, get organized. Never forget anything build an NCO book/ leaders book, and be on top of the information you are supposed to have. "I've got that information right here Sir." or "Sir, I will have that information for you ASAP." and mean it.

People say, "Professionalism" but that goes passed merely remembering your C&C. This is rare chance for you to step up and stand out, and you should embrace it fully. Never leave a job half done, look for ways to make it better, but confer with your POC.
Have a career plan! I suggest you check out your EPS packet, and a NCOER and look at the categories, and sit down with your POC to make sure you have a path toward the best possible ratings, and about once a quarter, re-assess and see how you are doing.
This might seem off topic, but the older timers actually love to see a young soldier with a plan and some goals for their career.

Learn about strategic career planning, and start setting one up. When will you be eligible for promotion, what steps are you going to take to ensure you are at the top of the list? What can you become a subject matter expert on, and how do you ensure people see it, without looking like a suck up?

You can apply this to pretty much every facet of life, determine a goal, figure out what you need to accomplish it, make a plan, check on the progress, assess the way forward,..

Kinda, like Military Decision Making.
1.Receipt of Mission
2.Mission Analysis
3.Course of action (COA) Development
4.COA Analysis (aka War gaming)
5.COA Comparison
6.COA Approval
7.Orders Production, Dissemination, and Transition


For most of us old timers, we want to see someone worth mentoring, but it starts with you.

The same way you would work with anyone else in a professional environment. Be professional. They put their trousers on one leg at a time too. So the biggest thing to do is get over the fear aspect. I worked with a lot of rank too and one thing I noticed about my Junior Marines is they were afraid to knock on the Officer's door. Whether they were afraid of the rank or afraid of getting chewed out, I don't know. But like I've told my Marines, you knock, you walk in. Give the proper greeting of the day. Conduct your business. Get out.

Working with higher ranks isn't hard once you get over the intimidation of it. Frankly, as they get used to your presence, they might even loosen up and joke around with you as well. But you have to remember there are times to joke and there are times to put the game face on. Just relax and be professional and you'll be fine.

I remember my younger Army days with this same type of thought. As I grew in rank and experience, it finally dawned on me that these high ranking folks are really no different than me. They put their uniform on the same.....they have the same (if not worse) hardships, they chewed the same dirt as me. When working with/for them, just constantly keep your professionalism and military bearing strong and the rest will fall into place and you will find that you will become more at ease with their presence. I just wish it didn't take me so long to learn this lesson.