What is the difference between a Specialist and a Corporal in the Army? Inquiring Marine minds want to know.

Being a Cpl. Was the best way for me to make the transition to the NCO ranks. Nobody likes cpl. Anymore cause a real vpl. In my day chewed more backside than anyone SGT. And in most cases was more respected due in large part to being more squared away. I loved being a cpl and it upsets me this valuable tool is no longer used.

A cpl. is an NCOs with responsibility in a leader ship ,a spec E4 is a spec in his work skill with no leader ship responsibility.but could be converted to NCOs rank.when promoted

In WWII and Korea there were Technical Sergeants. They were the fore runners to the Specialist ranks. They were not command NCO's, their rank was equivalent to a high paid civilian worker, if that worker was very proficient he might become a "lead", his only control was in the technical aspect of his job. The Technical(Tech) Sargent was eliminated in the Army, and Specialists were born. The Spc 4 insignia was an inverted teardrop with an eagle, Spc 5 added an "umbrella(an inverted rocker over the eagle, Spc 6 added the second inverted rocker, Spc 7 added the third inverted rocker, Spc 8 added an inverted chevron under the eagle, and Spc 9 added the second inverted chevron. Spcs 8 and ( were very rare, mostly in medical field With three rockers and one or two chevrons and the eagle they were very impressive. I only saw three Spc 8/9 s in my career. The Army eliminated the 8 and 9 s in the Seventies, then later all the numbered specialists leaving only the Spc E-4. Originally all technical positions, requiring knowledge, proficiency, and skill, but not Command of a squad or higher unit, was the providence for the specialist. The only "hard stripe" E-4 s were in Combat arms. Both the Army and Air Force experimented with this concept, The Air force modified their stripe so that E 2-4 had a blue star on a blue field, E 5-9 had a silver star. They later went back to the silver star. In my humble opinion I would like to see the Specialist come back, in our modern military there are highly technical jobs requiring great skill, but under the current regulations enlisted personnel must advance to the NCO ranks or they must quit, or be boarded out. This loss of technicians in a more and more technically orientated military will soon become unsustainable. I remember thinking when I heard of the dropping of the specialist to one rank and adding the single stripe with rocker that it would make sense to keep the "mosquito wing" as PFC, and name the new(to the Army) "mosquito wing" with rocker lance Corporal. Silly me when has the military ever been sensible?

Same as the difference between a Master Sergeant/First Sergeant...except with less pay/responsibility/authority.

Specialist works specialty and Corporal commands troops.

Same pay grade but corporal may have more responsibility and recieves a type of Ncoer while specialist's dont. Corporal out ranks specialist. Corporal should be groomed to become a Sgt. Honestly a specialist should also be given responsibility and groomed for the next step. Most times not all the time the person who is promoted latterly to corporal show promise of leadership. Some times a section may not have a Sgt and the best person gets promoted to run that section until a Sgt arrives.

Some MOS's don't have "specialists" at the E4 level - only corporals. I believe these are mainly the combat arms MOS's. At any rate, in the absence of an E5 or higher, a corporal will take charge before a specialist. That's the "mentality" at least to my understanding.

It is simple Marines think of Mster Gunny vs 1SG

A corporal has the authority of a Non-Commissioned Officer and a Specialist does not. The Specialist does not display as strong of leadership skills as the other.

A CPL is a unit promoted Soldier and their rank will not follow them when they PCS. A deserving SPC is laterally promoted to CPL when more NCOs are needed for supervision or the like.