Does rank still have privileges?

The privilege of Rank is the opportunity to lead Men and mentor them through their time in the service in this proud SGT of Marines opinion.

The perceived privileges was the reason I strived to get Promoted. I soon Learned that along with these privileges came more Reasonability and More eyes on you. One of the First things I did as a New Buck Sgt was to Join the NCO Club, only to Find that the E7,8,9 had their own little AO in same Club. It wasn't till I made First Sgt. that I Found what the Biggest privileges were ,that was the Ability to have a Lasting Effect on the Lives of Young Men, Make sure they were Trained, had the Resources to do their Jobs, and Look Out for Them. I always Thought the most important part of my Job was the Heath and Welfare of My Troops. They all Knew I had their Backs and I Knew they Had Mine.

Yes and no. It depends on the circumstances.

I've never been enlisted, but in my experience, on-base billeting sucks just as bad as it did when I was a Butter Bar, but now as a FGO, I get to appreciate the crappy accommodations all by myself. Also, now that I should be promoting to LtCol soon, I'll get even more responsiblites... I miss when I could play dumb, shrug, and offer up a "Butter Bar" salute. Having deployed to Navy bases overseas, I can say that rank definitely had its advantages there... not so much in the Air Force (private masseuses, chauffeurs, and chefs aside).

I, too, started out as an E-1, and later earned a commission and retired as a Major, O-4. I have seen active duty NCO's who failed to show respect for commissioned officers! I remember when the Army started referring to Warrant Officers as 'commissioned'. I served on both active duty, and in the Reserve and National Guard. The active Army has always treated Guard and Reserve as second class soldiers, even though the active Army has depended heavily on Guard and Reserve troops to get the job done! Times have changed, and not necessarily for the better. Just my personal opinion.

LTC's are the privates of the officer corps

I, like you began my career as a PFC and retired a LTC. From my experience any privileges (if they existed) were more position based as opposed to rank.

You are correct that views are skewed. Example, health care for a LTC has privileges such as choice of hospital for military to perform an operation of "major" nature versus choices for E-1. Second "privilege" is transportation of autoimobile if called to active duty.

I always considered it a privilege to lead. Having first become a SPC before ROTC and my commission, I can relate a bit to what you're saying. However the issues of not having to pull guard duty in shitty weather as a junior enlisted (we did KP at Fort Jackson BCT too) and getting promoted out of having as many Officer of the Day taskings were "perks" in my mind. Then of course there was the pay. Of the things to lament, I'd rank RHIP pretty far below things like higher deployment burn out due to the Weekend Warrior becoming vastly more involved than being a Weekend Warrior.

Reading all of this makes me feel like I am getting away with too much...