Posted on Jun 5, 2014
Sgt Seth Busse
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Posted in these groups: Rank Rank
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SSG Robert Burns
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"Rank gives you authority...not ability." - Robert Burns
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SSG Gregg Ouellette
SSG Gregg Ouellette
>1 y
Rank sometimes goes to that persons head. Its just a stage in military life as a rank structure/ladder. And it should not be used to get personal favors, etc..those kinds of things. Your character will be in jeopardy.
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SFC Counterintelligence (CI) Agent
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>1 y
Haha - did you just quote yourself?
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SSG Robert Burns
SSG Robert Burns
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Yes Robert Burns did quote himself.
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SFC Counterintelligence (CI) Agent
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LOL
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MSG Wade Huffman
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Edited >1 y ago
Your question can be answered by the "Peter Principle" which is alive and well in the Military as well as the corporate world.

In a nutshell, the Peter Principle suggests that people will tend to be promoted until they reach their "position of incompetence".

So the answer is no. Their current rank indicates they were able to get their previous job done.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Principle
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MSG(P) Michael Warrick
MSG(P) Michael Warrick
>1 y
I would hope so. The greater the authority the greater the responsibility.
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SGT(P) Michael H.
SGT(P) Michael H.
>1 y
rank does NOT equal ability. I've seen too much of the rank and file having too much authority and no skill set, especially in my field, 68W, and that has been disastrous on many occasions. put the person who is the subject matter expert in the position of leadership, not necessarily the 'ranking' person. you may just save yourself a major headache in the future. Just my humble $.02 worth.
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COL Jason Smallfield, PMP, CFM, CM
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Short answer is no, rank does not equal ability to get the job done. Rank is an indicator of experience and past performance. Soldiers are promoted based upon anticipated potential to perform at the next higher rank. Some Soldiers realize this potential after performance while others do not.
There are several examples of the former that each of us can recognize in our personal service while there are examples of the latter of which a recent high profile example is BG Sinclair of the 82nd ABN DIV.
In addition, some Soldiers are able to perform above their pay grade but do not have either the time in service or time in grade to be eligible for promotion. An example of this is Dwight Eisenhower who was a LTC in 1939 and became a five star general by 1945 (six years later).
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