Is today's Army an officer's Army?

Until a young officer, PLT LDR, has cut his milk teeth, his best mentor is his PLT SGT, working together the officer learns his job and the role of a leader, the PLT SGT will assist that young officer lead his Plt and keep him/her from making mistakes (if the young officer has been instructed in OCS, OBC, or the Academy on the early learning process of Plt management when you've never done it) Officer will always make up the plans, and their NCOs will always make those plans come out as they were intended. Just my humble opinion.

I will say that it is a perception thing vs a reality thing. The military has always been in the "power position" by the very nature of our rank system. That said, today's combat is not like combat in previous eras. Command authority is more centralized now than ever before due to the leaps and bounds in technology that has brought the strategic commander back in the command center real world/real time data to make on the fly play changes at that level that have previously been done by the senior service member in the field.

Does that mean Officers have more power now than before? Absolutely not. What it does mean is that there is far better situational awareness at all levels and units that previously would be operating completely independent of each other are not working in concert with each other via a higher echelon commander calling the plays. I would rather have someone with the big sight picture calling the shots than someone at the tactical level just trying to do the best they can with their limited level of SA outside of the immediate area.

I disagree. As my career is coming to a close I want to know that the NCO's taking the lead will be the enforcer's of standards. If you see something or someone that needs correction it is your Duty to step up.

Provide purpose, motivation and direction.

I have empowered virtually every NCO that has worked with me or for me. If I didn't there was a good reason. What they did with that power was up to them, and the vast majority did well and I respected them, there were some who did not.

First call...that morning formation sets the tone. Always has. We all got jobs to do, yet its that first formation that tells the CO what their unit strength and capacity is. NCOs give it to them ... Officers manage that information while the NCO leads by example and peforms the drill and ceremonies of that first call. The morning PT run...exclamation points towards NCO action and responsibilities to the commander objective/policy...NCOs know when and how to place profiles out, and the dear and antelop in the rear. Intentional leadership is the NCOs backbone methodology, action is front and center, and the relationships with services members are face to face.

When I first came in the military, NCOs conducted personal counseling. Over time, that task eventually went away.

I think this assertion is overall problematic.

In my opinion a lot of the micromanagement being discussed is being driven by our "zero defects" and risk averse culture we've developed. Commanders are more involved in minutiae, right or wrong, because it's their career that's on the line. A good example would be the engagement that SGT Dakota Meyer and CPT William Swenson received their MOHs from. Senior Officers denied fire support arguably because they were unwilling to accept the risk involved. If we can't trust a SGT or a CPT for that matter to call in fires, then there is something dramatically wrong with our force. While I find denying fires to the detriment of troops on the ground reprehensible, I understand why it happened. A change in our cultural and political climate is needed to fix this.

I think another contributor is how young our NCO corps has become. The influence NCOs wield is derived from their experience. When they don't have that experience, it follows that their influence would be reduced. In my first tank Platoon I had NCOs who hadn't been on a tank since BCT. Even my senior TC had never done Platoon or even section level maneuvers. Coming out of BOLC I literally had more experience on the tanks than they did. While I'm not diminishing their skills or their ability to contribute, much of our training was a joint learning endeavor. When I deployed with the same unit, 2 out of 3 of our PSGs had less than 10 years in. Today the 20 year veteran PSG is the exception rather than the rule.

As a final point, too often these discussions devolve into an us v. them argument. We have command teams for a reason. While one can function without the other, we get an overall better operation when Officers and NCOs work together. There's more than enough work and credit to go around. We would all do well to remember that we're working towards the same goal: supporting our junior enlisted troops on the objective. Everything we do from the Team Leader to General Officer revolves around that simple mission.

I think that's true, a lot of the NCOs prestige and power has been taken away by left wing liberal loon officers....problem is, we the NCO corps allowed it to happen

As if!!!!!every one knows that the all powerfull E4 mafia runs the army lol jk already pushing Top

"I remember way back when" "We used to be able to" I heard that for 21 years and that argument will go on forever. Too Bad that Jewish Capt outlawed Flogging in the Old Navy *SARCASM MUCH* Too Bad we can't keel haul them anymore (Tie ropes to their hands and feet and drag them under the Keel of the ship). Yeah we have evolved, civilized, Thank God!