Should the Army bring back the Specialist titles?

I was a draftee, at the age of 20 I was not a leader of men and I had category 2 eye site. I would have been a mediocre Sargent but I was a damn good SP5 personnel specialist. There are a lot of young people out there today that would greatly benefit from a military experience but are hesitant because of the reputation, gained from the movies and TV, of the military command structure. The availability of Specialist ratings would be attractive to them, I think.

The Special rank should be brought back. There are too many "combat support" soldiers that have been promoted that should NEVER be in charge of soldiers. I have seen SO MANY that have no desire or ability to lead, but want/need the bigger paycheck. Let them be Specialists in their fields and leave the leadership of soldiers to those that are meant to lead! BTW, real leaders are BORN leaders, not made from books.

I remember those days...I enlisted in 78' and we still had specialist ranks then....but then the Army was at 770,000 as compared to today at 460,000...the Army discontinued the Specialist ranks back in 85' as I remember, and I also remember there were two levels of NCOES...one for the green tab folks - PLC, BNCOC, ANCOC and one for the technical folks - Primary Tech Course, Basic Tech Course etc....
So now to the point at hand, the Army had issues back then with managing the Specialist ranks and that along with a downsizing Army, is what probably led to a one rank system as we know it today. I always thought there was merit in the two systems....let's admit it, the system we have now expects junior leaders to be leaders...at least in the old Specialist system, there were folks who were truly technical experts in their field and had no desire to be leaders.
We have leaders today who can't even march a fat lady to a salad bar....I make jest using this example but it does ring true. What has further exaggerated this issue is that like before using our own military history, we produced many leaders during the war years way ahead of their time.
There may be a time in the future where the Army reconsiders bringing back the Specialist rank...everything seems to be cyclic in nature, especially in the Army, but before it does consider doing that, they would need to look back and hard at the issues that the Army of 85' experienced and perhaps make the corrections of today's COE

In about 1985 the Army decided that everybody E-5 and above is a leader - regardless of whether they are in a leadership position or not. In the long run I don't think it makes much difference as the Army still sees individuals as either leaders or staff/support personnel. Even in the Infantry where there are leadership positions for every rank E-5 and above there are still staff/support positions to be filled. The Army should do more to make its NCOs better rounded so you don't have an E-7 assigned to a Brigade headquarters who has only served in line units or another E-7 who has served in staff/support roles who suddenly finds himself a platoon sergeant. If the Army made sure that every E-5 had at least one year in a leadership position and every E-6 and higher had at least 2 years in a leadership position our NCOs would be better rounded and more capable. Just my opinion.

I was a Spec6 before I got out in 1985. We were always told that specialists were to be regarded "as an NCO," yet, we were not. The only way you could wear "hard stripes" was to be put in a supervisor position: squad leader on up. If you had some leadership to offer, you were often "pigeon holed" defined as: "assigned to a particular category or class, especially in a manner that is too rigid or exclusive." When I cam back into the Army in 1993 (8-year vacation,) I was able to have the rank of Sergeant, but I still had to attend BCT. Beginning from the time I entered BCT I was treated with more respect than I ever was as Spec4, Spec5 or Spec6.

Retired a WO and firmly believe the system works as it is. The active Army must realize that if we should enact the Selective Service System, leadership be all present will be utilized. Some say we'll begin a draft again and I say we will if we have to. If the Pentagon didn't think we would need Selective Service, then why would they last year allow females to be included.

Yes I think it's a great idea some people just aren't leaders and should just stay in the specialist grades

I agree, in my days when you saw a Medic with a Specialist rank, you knew for sure he knew what needed to be done.

I could not agree more.If you don't believe it works just look at the warrant officer program. These are highly skilled people.They are specialist in their field. Some may view this as a stretch for comparison , but o well.

As a specialists in service 87-90 ALNG Avn,the rank of Corporal was only earned by combat service as all SP-5-6 were converted to Sergeant.The requirement to obtain Sergeant was A Noc and B no to advance.SO as the structure has changed as well as how our nation has been in a status of war on terror since 9-11,the impact has diminished the ability of retention by good people who just want to their job.

No,in no way.As a matter of fact,I have been for many years,against the Army use of the specialist rank.That rank doesn't mean anything,since everybody is a specialist in his/her mos.Beside that,during my 30 years of military career,I lived a great number of instances,where there were big encounters between specialists and corporals.A soldier could had more experience and time in service than a corporal,but been a hard stripe,the corporal was in charge.I also experienced a lot of discussions and confusion,since both of them were E-4's.
I really believe the opposite.The Army should eliminate the specialist rank,and establish the rank of corporal,to all the E-4 level.This way there would be more corporals in the system,giving these soldiers the standing and authority they deserve.Of course,there will be much less E-4's in the system,but a reorganization of the privates ranks should be implemented for pay purposes,based on a steps system.This way a soldier with more academic education,could gain more money in his/her rank,without the inconvenience of giving rank to someone without knowledge,skill and experience in the military.