Officer/NCO Animosity: Have you experienced it? How did you handle it?

No. Never experienced it. Maybe it's a Navy thing. I had very close working relationships with my senior NCOs as a young officer, could not have been successful without them. They made me who I am.

If Thinking career would consider becoming an officer if not nco is the way to go.

My last unit was a NIGHTMARE for this. It was all out war between NCOs and Officers. Officers trying to ruin NCOs careers and vice versa. They started keeping little books on each other trying to frame up paperwork on each other. The officers were fresh (including the commander who had no prior experience, literally just the first one to complete OCS got the spot). They disregarded input from senior NCOs, and when NCOs tried harder to make themselves heard and a battle ensued. The officers made a big show of ousting the 1SG, and then slowly 4 E-7s one by one and they dismantled the unit (not literally dissolved the unit but all the drama devastated the unit from an inside perspective). Some survived. Then they fired back and the LTs began getting pulled for investigations also. Investigations all over the place, and most of them were just about bad blood. Was a terrible environment for soldiers to be in, everyone else just tried to duck their head and not go down with the rest. New unit is like night and day! It has it's own issues but the harmony between the leadership is perfect. Officers don't step on NCOs toes, NCOs don't outshine their PLs and the Commander, neither are trying to attack each other and they have a solid unified front out in front of soldiers. What a relief. The last thing you want to do as an officer OR an NCO is start a grudge match battle over egos, nobody wins.

Talking Navy here, but I've never encountered such a thing in 20+ years, going from enlisted to officer ranks. We learn as junior officers how important it is to listen to the Chief Petty Officer (E-7) who fulfills that mentorship role. I've met a lot of officers who did not think much of their Chiefs for various reasons, but I've never heard it said that they would "throw you under the bus".

I can tell you first-hand that I have met the most unprofessional Officers and corrupt Non-Commissioned Officers located at Fort Gordon. After my MMRB, going through as an MOS-T, I experienced "hazing" or "Ranger Games" at it's finest. I was all aware of what was going on considering I was reclassing from 11B so I had seen these games before. They were thick as thieves when IG came down on them and temporarily moved the one of many toxic Leaders in A-369.

I've had the benefit of working with some excellent NCOs that have mentored me. I think a lot of the resentment, however, comes from the disconnect between the experience and levels of responsibility. NCOs often seek to trivialize the position of junior officers due to their lack of experience, and junior officers often are guarded or reluctant to assume responsibility because of the low expectations that are set for them. This isn't the way it's supposed to operate, although I can see the argument for giving more deference to the NCO with more experience. The Army needs to retool its structure to either empower the officer to ACTUALLY be the decisionmaker, and accept the risks that may come without, or remove the officer altogether and allow the NCO to run the show while the officer observes and learns. An organization can never be functional under the conflict of interest that arise when you are being trained by the same person whose performance you evaluate - that has never made any sense to me. It relies on informal relationships that undermine the chain of command and make the scope of responsibility of both officers and NCOs unacceptably vague.

Yes I have seen this behavior from NCO's towards Officers. I find that the cause of it is three-fold:
1. Considering the NCO's role, specifically, the NCO Creed: it is their duty to be the "backbone" and "the NCO will assist the Officer in accomplishing their tasks. The Officer will not need to help the NCO accomplish theirs." In a nutshell, they have the pride of being a part of the Corps of Enlisted that "work for a living", and therefore become arrogant with that position. They come to think that because they "work for a living" that they are the one that gets things done.
2. Typically, (but not in every case), the NCO gets his position due to merit, not education. He has to earn his title every step of the way after years of experience, whereas, the Officer (while he DID have to complete OCS) was given his position of leadership without having to serve for years to get the same experience. Which, one can imagine, would upset anyone who has worked hard to gain his military tenure to see someone above him who didn't have to "pay their dues."
3. Lastly, again with the education (which once again does not apply to all NCO's): NCO's tend to be anal towards Officers because the Officer is educated and the NCO is not.....or not as much. Since the Officer had to have a higher level of education, this actually intimidates some NCO's, and rather than showing it in the traditional way of acting intimidated, they go the other way and overcompensate by acting superior in their feelings of inferiority. I cannot stress enough though: THIS DOES NOT APPLY TO ALL NCO's. I have known many NCO's who have Bachelors and Masters degrees that simply CHOSE to be Enlisted or to STAY Enlisted, due to job description, time in grade, pride of remaining in the NCO Corps, etc.....and I find no fault in this.
In closing, there is one final thing that tends to contribute to an NCO's coming to hate the Commissioned and that is when you meet a Commissioned Officer that genuinely IS arrogant about HIS education and/or Commission. It's just a textbook case of letting their position go to their head, which, as I explained earlier with the Enlisted, can happen to anyone. To finally answer the question though after all the explanation and foreshadowing: when I come across this, what I normally do is let the arrogant party (Enlisted OR Commissioned) have their illusions of superiority, so long as they are subordinate and get the job done right. As long as you follow the directives, accomplish the task and do so respectfully in a military manner, I don't care who you think is in charge. In the event that the feelings of animosity become an issue to cohesion though, then I find that the military method is the best way: first try to meet one-on-one, man-to-man with them offline and hash it out. If this fails, then find an NCO and an Officer of equal or superior rank and re-confront the problem semi-offline. If this fails, take it to higher up with formal documentation and everything. Normally, if the first attempt doesn't work, then the 2nd usually won't either, but it's best to try it first before going straight to step 3 to avoid disciplinary action.

I have never experienced it, and quite frankly I have cherished the mentoring roles NCOs have provided me throughout my career. It doesn't stop @ lieutenant, but with Company cdr/1SG as well, along with a great emphasis on teamwork to lead the company/battery/troop. I honestly would challenge the thought that NCOs will hang officers to dry. If it happened to them, most likely they did not approach the relationship in the right manner, or those NCOs has a poor previous relationship with an officer and got burned themselves. It really is a self fulfilling prophecy. LTs will get out of the relationship what they put into it. NCOs are responsible for individual and crew training, and individuals include those young officers as well.

Preach the good news and live what you preach, SSG Cherry. I've seen good and bad officers and NCOs. All you can do is be one of the food guys and try to recognize and mitigate the bad guys. A good officer will be careful about who he trusts, and listen carefully to the NCOs he does trust

Everything is perspective and everything should be taken with a grain of salt. These guys/gals sounds like they had some experiences and spreading to people either becasue they want give good "advice" or becasue they truly feel this way about NCO's.
As soon as I read this it reminds me of the soldier who swears up and down to not ever get married because your spouse will cheat on you, take everything, leave you for nothing; I am sure we have heard it all and know soldiers who say this. I pity the fool who decides not to marry because he chooses to believe the guy who has had 3 failed marriages, decide to marry or not marry not becasue of few experiences you have heard or even a trend you have seen. Decide to marry becasue you believe you can take control of you own future and the relationships and bonds you create. To circle back, an NCO and officer is a lot like being married - the relationship must be created and supported on trust, commitment, dedication and faith in each other (sounds corney but true). Just as in a family its not the Ma or Dad who suffer the most when stuff doesn't work out it the kids or in this example the Joes when NCO and an officer can't get a good professional relationship on track. So to close with this crazy analogy of marriage and NCO/Officer relationship anyone can change someones opinion and a good NCO can change Officers opinion and good Officer can change opinion of an NCO, sometimes takes the right one (same thing in marriage).

So how do you handle when NCO or Officer has distaste for the other. Do what your meant to do

Work hard and be nice to people
Do not carry grudges
Lastly, take care of your people, they will take care of you, and the rest will take care of itself


Be careful whose advice you get, but be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia. Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, and recycling it for more than it's worth.