Rank vs. Position...

Maybe it’s an officer thing, BUT your rank doesn’t make you special. You woke up this morning as a (wo)man not a Major or LTC, and when you take the uniform at night you are still a (wo)man. So that’s how you should talk to someone. (Wo)man to (wo)man.

I think the phrase to not confuse your rank with my position comes into play

Positional authority... I was a lowly E5, and had sevral E6's under my position... still gave them the respect their rank entitled, never lorded it over them, and they had no problem at all with it... was a lesson for all of us in unit cohesion and military discipline.

With a bit of tact and common sense.

I sat in a conference when an AF BG introduced himself as I am GEN so-and-so and I work for Capitan so-and-so pointing to the young man sitting next to him. The GOOD ones senior to you understand that your position makes you the Boss, as long as you treat them with the respect due their rank.

As a former active duty Marine for 9 years I mentioned to the 1st Sgt that we had a Co Gunny to handle formations and such. I was a SSG but he said we have a "firld first" you're him. There were 3 or 4 SFC's but they ubderstood that I represented the 1st SGT. Never had any problems.

I was in a similar position as an E5 with an E6... positional authority... I operated with the respect his rank deserved, and he operated under the authority my position deserved... neither of us were egomaniacs and both were team players... we got along swimmingly :)

I read one poster mention that if you do not rate them, you're not over them, but there is also a little thing known as "positional authority". I have seen a couple of instances where an enlisted man (senior NCO) was the lead for a particular detail or project and had a junior officer on the team. The officer was NOT the one running the show, but there was NO WAY that the NCO was going to rate that officer...

I guess in the end, I'll just say good luck and remember your tact and bearing...

I'm not sure what's different among Officers, but I believe if for example n E4 or E5 is "appointed" to say a Platoon Sergeant billet, the individual is suddenly "treated like a Gunny". I'm sure this doesn't happen often. That said, if a higher ranking individual is one of the Squad/Section Leaders right under this PltSgt billet, and "the taller brass" had a reason to move you up over them, then perhaps that senior person in a junior position must have "screwed sumtin up? at some point. I dont think its enough that the person appointed higher position is necessairily "stellar". Perhaps both conditions have to be met.

Or perhaps its just a "known belief" that the senior rank, lower position person, had already been determined to NOT likely make the "latching onto retirement rank" and will be sent home relatively soon.

MAJ (Join to see) - First, good luck in that position and secondly, my brother told me how his position put him over with people of higher rank. He sucked it up and paid close attention to how he put things. He was an Army Medic.