Should the Army bring back the Specialist titles?

I think every time I hear someone bring up SPEC ranks, they tend to mention that the traditional ranks of Sergeant on up should be reserved for combat arms. I ask this: do we really need more distinction for the grunts? Do we really need to further segregate the technical jobs that are more or less indirectly responsible for the success of the Military in general? At best I can see this being a headache to implement, and a sense of nostalgia for those who were around to witness it. If we need to establish that one person of a certain rank has authority over someone of the same rank, this can accomplished by better ways than bringing back a secondary class of rank structure.

The Army needs the specialist ranks brought back.

No. Leadership IS learned. If you want the rank and the pay, accept the responsibility that goes with it.

I wold say that it is a program that should never have been deleted. It should also not be required for a soldier to advance in grade beyond their desire to advance if they are doing a good job at the grade they are in. The best NCO that I ever had was an E-5 who was forced out of the military for not advancing. He enjoyed working with an Infantry squad. Leading on the ground is what he wanted to do. He did not want to advance to E-6 and be assigned other duties. He was the guy you wanted to be with in any situation, but the Army threw him out like garbage.

As a soldier I would have loved to have experienced the SPEC Ranks. I was an MP and had no desire to lead soldiers because all I ever wanted to do was to be a police officer in life. I ended up promotable (with resentment) anyway before I got out. That would have gave me the much needed confidence to progress in the MP Corps as an expert in my field without having to lead other soldiers. This rank system works great for MOS's like the 31B series because it would allow the senior SPECS to do their job in an expert capacity under the supervision of one NCO, vs having to find multiple NCO's to lead teams. It would also allow for NCO's to maintain the same Joes versus splitting a team/sqd because soldiers are going up the ranks to be NCO's. The down side to this system is that NCO's would have to do way more work because there is less NCO's to supervise the unit. Regulations would have to change to allow the senior SPEC Ranks to take on delegated duties that usually an NCO would do in the unique MOS's.

I do think the Specialist ranks should be brought back. I myself served for 13 yrs. and had no interest in being a NCO, I loved doing my job and didn't want to watch others do it while I stood by and essentially directed traffic. Not everyone is meant to be a leader and with the current structure it does not allow for those who are invaluable in their positions to progress without becoming an overseer instead of the one who get the job done. There are Officer's and CWO's who are the specialist's of their particular field, there should also be NCO's and Specialist's for the enlisted side of the rank structure.

Yes I believe that this would be a massive benefit to the taxpayers. The fact that many people know they can get a much higher salary working in the private sector discourages many very adept soldiers (albeit not leaders) from continuing their service. I know of many soldiers that should have had a much higher pay grade than they currently held, but would have been a shit leader. There are a multitude of reasons that this should be implemented again, not the least of which that it encourages keeping experience in the military and not moving into the private sector.

I think you should make this post into a Poll so it can create a better snapshot to push towards the brass.

Definitely, in SOF we very often have NCOs as the lowest person on the totem pole, E6s who are the lowest rank in the company, not in charge of any other Soldiers, it is very difficult to rate their leadership and other sections of the NCOER when they are not in charge of other Soldiers, having a SPC rank would alleviate the problems while still allowing for the proper pay grade to hold for Soldiers.

Also, some Soldiers are awesome and deserve to move up, but they don't quite have the leadership ability. Putting them on the SPC track would still allow for development without getting a mediocre leader, or allow for a true "specialist" who has a particular skillset.

For those that say no, think about this. Listen to the complaints about poor leaders. Barely able to lead anything, but they have to be put in those positions to avoid being kicked out. They may be very technically proficient, but suck at being leaders. Yet they are now in charge of people. And the reason that good troops are getting out.
If that shitty platoon sergeant were instead a higher grade specialist, he'd be fantastic at fixing that radio, or tank gun, but without having to deal with leading people.
And no, you can't just make everyone in that job be as good at the job. Some people are always going to be better at the technical aspects. It's not possible to make sure that everyone is both and trying to do so is just plain silly.