What was the purpose of the higher Specialist ranks?

Back then, the two rank systems were used to distinguish who was a leader (an NCO), and who was a technician (specialists). The higher specialist ranks were given to soldiers who had a great deal of administrative responsibility, but did not necessarily lead any troops. For example, someone who was a quartermaster (supply sergeant) who worked at the Pentagon and worked on massive acquisition projects might hold one of the higher specialist grades. He was paid the same as the NCO of the same grade because of the level of responsibility and expertise he had, but he was not in charge of troops and most of his authority was administrative only.

Just for information:

In 1968 when the Army added the rank of Command Sergeant Major, the specialist ranks at E-8 and E-9 were abolished without anyone ever being promoted to those levels. In 1978 the specialist rank at E-7 was discontinued and in 1985, the specialist ranks at E-5 and E-6 were discontinued.

SPC (Join to see) I was the Chief Fire Direction Computer for a mortar platoon, and was a SP5. I had one subordinate, a SP4 Fire Direction Computer. Mortar squad leaders were all SGTs, perhaps because they had an appropriate number of subordinates, 4 in their case. (Appropriate in that an Infantry Team Leader would also be a SGT and have 4 team members.) By that standard, if you had an entire squad of 10 subordinates, you would be a SSG, and if you had a platoon's worth, you would be an SFC. But if you had less, you could be a SP6 or SP7.

I don't know if this is the ACTUAL reason, but it is what it appeared to be in the early to mid 70's. The only SP7s I saw were senior cooks.

I think then, the Army was trying to increase pay for those who had valued skills, but insufficient subordinates to justify higher rank. I think the Army needs to continue to look into this, and stop the drain of highly qualified talent to the contracting world.

I was always under the impression they were originally intended to keep highly skilled personnel in critical technical fields by paying them for their expertise without placing them in command situations for which they really didn't have the experience or training (and would have been an unneeded distraction from what they needed to do anyway). I saw one Sp8 (at SHAPE hospital in Belgium, when I was a dependent edit note: reading some other comments I may have miscounted his stripes above his eagle) and several Sp7s as a dependent and when I first went in myself in the mid-70s. I was in the Field Artillery and we had a couple Sp5s (Spec 5s back then) - they were in the mess hall, we had a couple Sp5 medics and maybe a Sp6; our Survey Section was authorized at least one Sp5 with a "hard stripe" SSG as chief. By the time my first hitch was up many of our E-5s were "converted" to hard stripes.

Technically, SP5s were not supposed to be NCOs but they pulled CQ just like our hard stripe fives - unless they were ED like the spoons. I guess the idea gave way to the realities of the immediate needs of the unit.

Not to belabor the point but a story that illustrates it. When I went through Basic in the Winter of 75 we had a guy who was 29 years old. We called him "Pops" (only in the Army). The guy had a Masters degree in computer programming (which was fairly rare back then) and the Army WANTED this guy and his expertise. He was having problem with PT as he had done nothing very physical since his PE classes in college. Some of the younger Drills were giving him a hard time about him being on profile until one day my platoon sergeant, who was acting Senior Drill Sergeant that day read a letter from DA which put Pops on a PERMANENT PT profile. The Army REALLY WANTED this guy's skill set. My drill sergeant called for a round of applause for Pops - the ONLY guy he'd ever met who'd "screwed" the Army.

From then on, Pops was driven back and forth to the range and when he graduated from Basic he was promoted to SP5 with promotion to SP6 to follow. It was actually in his contract, I was his squad leader so I saw it in writing. THAT is, to me the perfect example of what the Specialist ranks were supposed to be. I just wish I had taken the time to find out more about what his degree was in so I could have gotten one...

When I joined the Army in 1973, my MOS was 74 Series, then Computer Operations, now that was the opitime of the Technician in the Specialist Ranks. All those MOS were converted to The Signal Branch, 25 Series over the years.

I made it to Specialist 5 as a 74D-G5, Computer Operator, Large Scale IBM. Our shift Supervisors were a mixture of hard stripes and Specialist, SSG, SFC and SP6 or SP7. Our Systems Programmers (74E) and Computer Maintenance Technicians (74G) were all Specialist 6 and 7s. We had a Section MSG, a SGM and above that was a Warrant Officer as the Section Chief.

Anything outside of that in the unit followed the traditional Army rank structure, motor pool, supply and administration. If you came in the Army with civilian computer skills, you could get fast tracked to SP5, which pissed off all the SP4s who had been in for awhile and couldn't get promoted because the cutoff scores for promotions in those MOS where ridiculously high in those days.

I also remember there was a lot of heartburn when Sergeants were in charge of higher ranked Specialist when we did our time in the field. Especially when many of our Specialist held degrees and the GT score cutoff for the MOS was 110. We thought we were too damn smart for our own good to be bossed around by some lowly supply or motor Sergeant!

When I joined the Reserves in 1981 I had to go to a 11B Conversion Course and was then appointed Sergeant from SP5 and then sent to Drill Sergeant School.

The Army would be smart to bring back the SP5, 6 & 7.
There are many present day NCO's that just dont cut the mustard.
Some people can lead, some cant.
Those that cannot lead, but are technically proficient, could earn the sp5,6,7 ranks.
This could only work if NCO's werent handcuffed with political correctness and paperwork and feelings.
Put feelings aside, right is right, wrong is wrong.
This would require consistent standards that dont waiver from leader to leader or unit to unit.

The enlisted Specialist Ranks in the Army were intended to be similar to the original status of the Warrant Officer ranks; Technical Experts unencumbered with leadership duties. But then unit leaders started looking at Soldiers' Pay Grades as the equivalent of rank and assigning duties by pay instead of by leadership skills. Specialists did lead (supervised and advised), on the job site, but they were not supposed to be "Troop Leaders. I saw the demise of the Specialists ranks early in my career and I think the Army lost a great deal of capability and flexibility when they were done away with.

SPC O'Hara:
I made SP/5 during my 18 months in combat during the Vietnam War. I went through two six month MOS's at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma. I was sent to RVN in September 1967, was put in charge of group of specialized combat troops and spent most of the time in the very worst parts of the "boonies". Because of our reputation for collecting Intel affectively, I received several "battlefield promotions". I went from PFC to Sp/5 in less than a year. Normally, Specialist ranks in Vietnam were special duty and not usually in charge of large numbers of troops. However, I was one of the exceptions to that rule. Other specialty ranks ranks were in electronics, crypto, radar crew leaders, electronic surveillance, MI, and countless other job areas. Not all of us were cooks, supply, or even "paper pushers". Some of us fought side by side with the "legs" and bled just as red. Both teams that I led (34 total), in the most remote parts of Southeast Asia, treated me with ultimate respect and dignity. It was never about the rank, it was about the respect for that person. I was proud to be called Specialist, or Sergeant or even "asshole" as long as it was done with respect. Everyone on my combat teams were Specialists in their own rights and always deserved my undying love and respect. Only three of us (out of 35) survived Vietnam.

most interesting... in the mid 70's I saw one SP-8... he was Senior Ward Master at Brook Army Med Center...

By the time I joined there were only SP4 through SP6 still. The Specialist grades were for technical fields and the Specialists were not expected to serve in leadership positions like the hard stripe NCOs.
The Engineer MOSs I recall having Specialists up to SP6 in 81 were the Machinists and Crane Operators. Machinists transferred to the Ordinance branch and the crane operators were absorbed into the 62N Horizontal Construction Supervisors and became hard stripe NCOs.