Should the Army bring back the Specialist titles?

Yes

Good thoughts! And the theory of specialists is much like the warrant officers. However, before re-implementing, much discussion is necessary to institute a sound program. Questions such as should the pay for the same grade of specialist and the hard stripe be the same or not? If so, why would a Soldier accept more responsibility as a leader if the pay is the same? How do you determine which Soldier is a leader or not? There needs to be a definitive program for the specialists....... does the rank cap at E7/Spec 7 or will it morph into the warrant officer program? How does a Soldier progress within the Specialist rank structure? In a particular MOS, what differentiates the SP4, SP5, SP6, etc.?The mere attendance to technical schools/courses should not be the only determining factor. A performance evaluation program with definitive gates or abilities or standards should be detailed out to rule out any inference to a "good ole boy" type of evaluation program. Should civilian technicians (contractors or manufacture tech reps) be utilized as disinterested parties?
The military (Army) spends big bucks to train Soldiers and not to capitalize on retaining good technicians would be a waste!

Like many others say, the Spec ranks were perfect. I had an aviation Engine Spec 4 with 15 years of service who could do a Vulcan Mindmeld on a $ million helicopter engine and save $100,000s fixing the engin instead of just throw parts at it. He was EQRBed because he didn’t want lead anything more than his shop. As a replacement we received an E6 who no one ever sees because all year long all he does is work in an office and do NCOERs.

So now all we have are max of 5 years of experience working on our equipment. Because once your an NCO, your expected to lead others doing the work not do it yourself. So .......where do the mentors come from if all that’s out there working have less than 5 years of service??

My time as a SP6 were some of the most rewarding. Because I was respected for doing my technical MOS and did not have to deal with NCO politics.

Is one's knowledge and expertise defined by a rank chevron? I think not.

One of the biggest mistakes the Army ever did was taking away the SPC ranks (5 and up). NOT EVERYONE IS A LEADER. There are lots of great technical people out there who have left the Army because they didn't want a leadership position, they just wanted to do their job. I have seen piss poor leaders who never belonged in the position because there was no place to put them.

I used to be in signals intelligence in the first half of my career. Keeping the specialist ranks would have been great. We had many people that were excellent in their MOS. Top experts in their jobs. Nope, the Army switched the system & forced many out of their jobs & into leadership roles. Many were never suited for that & especially in the intel field, expertise was lost. I used to work jointly with the British. They used be able to go up in pay grade & not necessarily in rank. It was nothing to see a corporal with 25 years of service but they were the expert on a a particular aspect of their mission. With so much being sunk into cyberwarfare today, this may be a great option to keep our experts on the job while still increasing their pay rates.

As a SPC4, I hated it when my Sarge would ask me to assemble a guard detail. We used to argue about it. I didn't have time, as I was constantly needed at my specialty, not as a leader. For one thing, some of my brothers didn't want to be led by me. The SPC title should be reinstated.

you bet. Some guys just are not born to lead. I've seen good soldiers fail when put in charge but they were some of the best techs around. It's hard enough to repair some of this military equipment so leave it to the experts and let the sgts. lead.

No, I have heard this debate for over 20 years. In the time we actually had these ranks it was a necessity. Today's society would not lend to the aforementioned specialist ranks. Keep the NCO corps strong by providing purpose in your mission, Motivation to serve regardless of rank and Direction to those you lead.