Should an Officer wear a Driver's Badge that was earned while he was Enlisted?

WO1 (Join to see) - It's great to be a polymath, but that is a rare talent. There are plenty of those "Jacks of all trades, masters of none", however.

Whe I went from JROTC to ROTC I wore my qualification badges for .22 and M-1. Got some raised eyebrows about that. Then I got on the rifle team. Funny thing, as an artillery officer we weren't allowed to qualify "ARTY".

In my view, you earn it , you wear it no matter the rank !!!

HELL no

Not as true today.

As an Officer, I was always Proud to wear my Good conduct Medal.

He earned it, right?

CW3 Don Malay or a Rigger

SSG Ken Lohmann Try showing up to a board with an expired PT Card or Weapons Card while wearing a PT Badge or weapons badge.

How many troops do you see wearing a "Grenade" tab?

Remember that if it is not on your ERB, you probably shouldn't wear it.

SPC Michael Clark - Wore my grenade tab all of my 30 years and was not bothered. As for promotion boards I can only relay the regs though I also wore my expired qual badge and explained the regs, they checked I won. Yes even in my time there was the thought that after a year you can't wear it, proved 'em wrong every time I was asked about it. I do believe that 1 year was attributed to the requirement that you had to qualify once a year back then and nobody bothered to go one paragrah further.

Knowing your regs (or where to find them) gives you the advantage in any situation. Know your local regs and Army, Air Force, Navy etc. They take presedence over local regs. Helped me out alot as as an Air Force flyboy.

Amen CPT !!!

Actually I’d say you were “candid and direct” not “a verbally abrasive manner”

Well said!

I laughed at this. Clearly you picked up the Dry Humor badge.

That’s too funny!! But If I knew an officer that made officer through the one of many programs, I always give them the respect for their prior experience especially if it were in my field.

Sir, I just transitioned over to officer at 12 yrs and I'd say my experience is fairly contrary to yours. It seems like all my NCOs want to do is play on their phones or cry about going home. I give quite a lot to have some of your old NCOs.

2LT (Join to see) - I'm sorry to hear that. When I was an NCO (a long time ago), NCOs didn't want officers putting their hands on things. If the officer was putting his hands on things, it meant: 1) The NCO failed to properly insure him that the thing was fine and didn't need additional touching 2) He'd just read a book about it. 3) Somebody let him get too close. In those days, there were only two phones you could use - the one on the CQ desk and a payphone in the dayroom, and you couldn't do anything but talk on them. Only married guys went "home". Everyone else was already there.

My Drivers Badge and Weapons Qual Badge will never be pinned on again. I rarely wear a combat patch (4 of them) I rarely wear my CAB. Not an attitude issue. Just personal reasons.

I mean look there are certain things I haven’t worn for certain reasons.

I’m all about quiet professionalism and not letting sparkle pretties and fruit salad be the only definition of a Soldier.

You do you Chief.

I only take issue with those that don’t understand the point of wearing dress uniforms or uniform items and then play the “I’m so humble” bullshit or minimize the accomplishments of others out of petty insecurities because of delicate egos. Or the ones who are like “bah we have too much stuff on the uniform” while forgetting what the symbols mean. Because it’s not about us as individuals. It’s about the honor, valor and espirit de corps of our family; it’s our history. It’s multi generational and ties us together. That’s why when someone bears a tab or Combat patch or CAB/CIB/CFMB they are representing everyone else with the same uniform item.

But I feel you Chief. So do your thing bro.

*Update to this thread. I wore everything except the highly classified awards and decorations I was not able due to OPSEC. That’s not bullshit.

Anyone who wants to help get that stuff declassified and official copies sent to me would be super duper and very appreciated. 00B

You know after some thought and soul searching here is the rub.

There are certain awards and special skill badges I didn’t wear not because of the transition from Enlisted to Officer but for OPSEC reasons.

I had to maintain cover and not wearing the Diver’s Badge and certain other things because of OPSEC and to maintain cover is a totally different subject entirely.

It can be humiliating. Absolutely humiliating but at the same time quiet professionalism demands you let it go and honestly people act differently towards you when you wear certain badges and tabs and awards.

When I made these comments before I was speaking to just people being like “you shouldn’t wear that because you’re an Officer now” which is lame and to encourage people to have pride in their uniforms and accomplishments.

Maybe one day certain pictures and documents will be declassified and I can take more pride in certain things I’ve done but part of those life choices included waiting for the right time. I think that’s now. I was instructed to not wear certain things for a period of time for OPSEC.

I’m retired now so...
SSG Mark Franzen

SGT Joseph Gunderson Generally speaking your observations are correct. When I was on Active Duty, outside of training, Officers never drove any of the Brads, M-ATVs, MAXX-Pros, etc.; however, when I went into a trans unit in the Reserves, our Officers did drive. Granted, it wasn't as often as Enlisted did, but when you are driving locally and regionally each month, and then drive across the country for yearly annual training, even officers will rack up enough miles to earn the Driver's Badge, but I just can't see it happening on Active. Not often anyway.

Not anymore on the logging of miles, as long as you've had a clean record for at least 12 months straight then you can get the badge of your Lead mechanic puts you in for it (with the help of your supervisor of course)

I’ve seen bad ass Colonels change their own tires.

Personal experience. I was a captain ICU headnurse in the 117 MASH. We were deployable medical capable. All of the milvans had to be precisely plotted on paper, plotted on the bare field, and placed in precise positions. Tape measures, paper plates and down to nail head markers on the ground. If one soldier screwed it up, the hospital didn't work. Those tents "zip" together. And the zippers don't stretch well.
The truck drivers had to be real good to accomplish this.
If I screwed up, it made the soldiers life harder. Not my goal in life.
So, I went to drivers school. Learned to drive a 5 ton pulling a pintle towed trailer on these big damn wheels. I goft just as dirty, sweaty, abd hot and miserable as the other student drivers!
When asked why an officer, a Nurse, would want to do this , I tpld them it was simple.
To insure thst my plans were good enough for the soldiers to accomplish. Why would I give them a rask that I didn't understand? Why wouldn't I go out of my way to insure their success? They were the truck drivers. I was just a planner.
Part 2: I shot expert with the M1911a1. Shoot sharpshooter with the M16. A2 I believe. I taught marksmanship. I assisted the armorer and supply
Sergeant. Not the other way around. When a theory question came up. I did my best to answer it. If I couldn't answer, I would research and GET an answer. Never tried to be the NCO. (Been there, done that) I was a resource for the NCO's. Tried yo make yhe soldier's life easier. When the soldiers saw my qualification badges, they (hopefully ) knew the stuff that their leadership was saying was the real deal.

As a senior, prior service CPT, I took the time to show my soldiers how to conduct a proper PMCS. I had a lot of experience with the various PMCS types while enlisted. It was enlightening to them to see that there were different types of PMCS and at which point certain elements of that PMCS would be conducted. So there are some of us out there with coveralls on, getting under hoods and trucks with our NCOs and Soldiers. The BN CDR had coveralls on under the hood as well.

My motor officer did his own pmcs and oil changes. 1st maintenance company. Ft Riley. Ks.