Is today's Army an officer's Army?

Officers have always been in command! NCO's follow and excited the orders. The main difference is we are the enlisted teachers, trainers, first line of discipline. We accomplish the mission by all means necessary!

Retired in ‘95 and was an NCO’s Army. So couldn’t say about the past 25 years.

Many years ago I had the pleasure of escorting the Chief of Staff of the Ukrainian Army and the Commandant of their military academy. We went to several locations but the one that held their interest the most was the NCO Academy at Ft Bragg. Why? Because in their army and the Russian Army there is commissioned officer where we have a platoon sergeant. He micro manages everything they do, even when he is young and inexperienced. No one else is cross trained or has leadership experience. If something were to happen to that commissioned officer, everything would come to a halt. They were avid fans of the the great NCO corps of the US Army and asked many questions, planning to take that information home and implement a similar NCO program. The NCOs at all levels make the Army run.

What's your definition of power? Authority or something a little less legal? Truth is it doesn't matter the branch. Officers have all the legal authority in the world. Should the certain NCO's, or Petty Officers in the more naval branch simply decide to start their own program there is a lot they can get away with.

Unit CO says workday lasts between these times. The crafty NCO will find ways around it, and will likely take large portions of his subordinates with him. As every NCO learned before they got stripes, the boss can't be everywhere at once, and as they moved up they learned that there are fewer bosses.

Col Williams made it sound poetic. Truth is the strips are where the rubber meets the road. You loose enough of your Non-Comms they'll run things without you, and they will do it their way, and it'll be a devil to get everyone on the same page again.

In the Navy, it's the Chiefs who get things done.

As a young, but very good 2nd Lt once told me, "the army can survive without officers but it cannot survive without ncos.

I wouldn't use power, but would use authority (as many have already pointed out.) Command consists of authority and responsibility. Commander's are responsible for everything their unit does or fails to do, but the larger the unit, the more the commander has to delegate authority. Subordinate officers and NCOs only have as much authority as the commander allows/delegates. I learned a long time ago that when an NCO tells an officer, "Sir, this is NCO business." that this statement was really shorthand for, "Sir, the commander has normally delegated authority for this type of situation to NCOs - so, if you let me handle it, I will and let you know how things turn out."

I can only speak about the time I was in and what I saw. This was right after the fall of the Soviet Union and the military was having huge cuts in personnel and money. The competition was tight for the higher ranks. I observed micromanagement become the order of the day. I saw BN commanders getting involved in tank crew business. The problem becomes when you start doing someone else's job they are soon going to quit doing their job, and why not? Someone is doing it for them. I understand a commander is responsible for what happens in his command but you have to train your NCOs to do NCO business and not do NCO business yourself. I have seen it here on Rally Point. I witnessed a conversation about what an officer should do about a certain situation (cleaning of a barracks). It was clearly NCO business but you had officers talking about how they would get involved.
I am not saying NCOs do not have the power they used to have but I am saying in my time I have seen Officers getting bogged down in NCO business. Maybe I was spoiled by having great NCOs in my command I don't know. Maybe I see it a little differently because my Dad was a Sergeant Major. He preached to me, let the NCOs do their work and if you have one that won't do it, get rid of them. I have been out for 10 years now. I have no idea if it is better or worse.

Officers have authority, based on level of responsibility. Perhaps this is what many perceive as power.

In my time in the Army we always thought the NCO'S were the go to people