What came first the officer or the enlisted?

Maybe not officers but leaders always come first.

The NCO!

Don't know if it would qualify as the officer exactly, but there always has to be some sort of a leader figure to rally people or for people to rally around. Without some sort of guiding direction, no matter how small, everything is just degrees of chaos.

Overall, though, I'd say the enlisted. You need the people first and then a leader steps forth from them.

CW04 Michael Doyle enlightened me on this topic. Before WWII, the majority of Marine Corps officer came from enlisted ranks. There's an interesting history there that can show the development of that branch and how its roots influence modern times.

But as far as the overall U.S. military, I feel you really can't draw two different starting points. American military organizations began with the concept of both.

https://www.worldwidehistory.org/ancient-roman-military-ranks.html Just the Roman Army Ranks. I am sure the Greeks, Persians and other earlier Empires had their Officers. I am sure China predates them all.

I believe that as long as man has fought in numbers there has always been the leader and the led (Officer and Enlisted).

Good question Aaron

To cut too the chase, without the enlisted soldiers. The officers would be there own privates

Oddly enough, they both came at the same time. (Okay, you guyz, stop it with the dirty minds!) It is historically recorded that the top-ranking member of a military unit was called the "Sergeant Major General." This was used up to the 17th Century (English Army). After a while, the term "Sergeant Major was separated from "Major General."

Generally speaking, in any Army, there's the person in charge, and there are the people who followed that person. Gradually, the person in charge was considered an officer, and the people who followed that person were enlisted. Historically, being a commissioned officer meant that your authority came from the Head of State (the Monarchy, in most historical terms). The commissioned officer then had the authority to bring others into the army, that is, they "raised a force," or "enlist" others, who would then be "enlisted." In past days (up to the nineteenth century) a commissioned officer used his own money to pay for his troops, then hoped that the national authority (i.e., the King, etc.) would pay for that force to be used, thus the commissioned officer would get his money back, and be able to continue to pay for his troops. Thus, again, the answer is "both, at the same time."

The politician