What's the relationship between the Army Technical Sergeants and Specialist 4-9 Rank structures?

SGT Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 27 Jul 2016 22:27:14 -0400

Response by CPT Jim Schwebach made Jul 27 at 2016 10:31 PM

CPT Jim Schwebach — Wed, 27 Jul 2016 22:31:02 -0400

I'm not sure what you are asking as neither of the rank structures exist any more.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Jul 27 at 2016 10:36 PM

SFC Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 27 Jul 2016 22:36:23 -0400

Both rank structures paralleled the NCO ranks but focused more on technical expertise for non-combat jobs rather than direct leadership or combat experience. They gave Soldiers who weren't likely to see combat an opportunity to still move up in rank and display their "know how" sort of speak.

Response by CSM Charles Hayden made Jul 27 at 2016 10:38 PM

CSM Charles Hayden — Wed, 27 Jul 2016 22:38:08 -0400

SGT Private RallyPoint Member Are you speaking of the chicken or the egg?

'T' ranks were of the old Army, (see book, 'From Here to Eternity' and were a instant, revocable means of compensating for extra skills. Specialist ranks came about in the late 50s and 60s n 70s for the same reasons. That is my recall, no research. CSM

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Jul 27 at 2016 10:39 PM

SSG Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 27 Jul 2016 22:39:45 -0400

Specialist 4-7 were still allowed to move up in rank however they were usually not placed in leadership positions. Technically a corporal would outrank a SPC7, although he wouldn't outrank a Technical Sergeant. A Technical Staff Sergeant would be equal in rank to a regular Staff Sergeant, just paid more.

http://www.fatherswar.com/8thinfdiv/WW2/ww2_8thgeneralinfo/general%20info/WW2%20Rank.html

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The most basic part of the Army is rank. Men are given ranks so that everyone knows who can give orders to whom, as often those orders will result in men dying. Army rank is a two tired class system: officers and enlisted men. Historically officers were the upper class; intelligent and well trained men of finer birth. Enlisted men were the lower working class, the ones that do the dirty jobs.

Response by SGT Dana Williams made Jul 27 at 2016 10:41 PM

SGT Dana Williams — Wed, 27 Jul 2016 22:41:27 -0400

The Specialist grades are a modern counterpart to the WW2-Korea Technical grades.

Response by PO1 John Miller made Jul 28 at 2016 11:19 AM

PO1 John Miller — Thu, 28 Jul 2016 11:19:46 -0400

I'm not sure, but I do recall seeing a picture of Leonard Nimoy (Mr. Spock) wearing the rank of Technical Sergeant (E5). Interesting bit of trivia if nothing else.

Response by SPC Terry Martin made Jul 29 at 2016 10:41 AM

SPC Terry Martin — Fri, 29 Jul 2016 10:41:31 -0400

Good Question, I'm so far out of the Army now that I didn't have to deal with the differences.

Response by SPC Tim Kimball made Jul 30 at 2016 9:57 PM

SPC Tim Kimball — Sat, 30 Jul 2016 21:57:58 -0400

When i was in (04-08) we only had 2 E-4 rankings. That's Specialist and Corporal. Specialist no stripes, but had limited authority granted to them by their ranking Sgt. Typical for special details amd clean up crews. Corporals had stripes and limited Sgt authority granted by a lateral promotion.

Response by SP5 John Cooper made Aug 3 at 2016 9:08 PM

SP5 John Cooper — Wed, 03 Aug 2016 21:08:36 -0400

specs. DO NOT command troops like hard stripe.

Response by SP6 Olen Hutchins made Aug 5 at 2016 12:49 AM

SP6 Olen Hutchins — Fri, 05 Aug 2016 00:49:52 -0400

The removed SP7-9 in the early 70's and the SP6 in 1985. This was because there had become no real difference once a soldier moved past SP5. They were all NCO's with command responsibilities just like all other NCO's.

Response by SPC Warren Capps made Jul 25 at 2017 7:35 PM

SPC Warren Capps — Tue, 25 Jul 2017 19:35:55 -0400

My CAC card said Corporal but my sleeve said specialist. I supervised 2 soilders and got 0 support from my NCOs. Should I have been a hard stripe........

Response by SSG Kenneth Ponder made Jul 9 at 2020 1:27 AM

SSG Kenneth Ponder — Thu, 09 Jul 2020 01:27:00 -0400

Spec 4's only they got rid of the Spec 5's and up.