Which branches trust their troops, both Officer and Enlisted, more?

PO1 Christopher Gómez — Sun, 19 Feb 2017 10:45:59 -0500

In the Navy it seemed that Officers were automatically given a certain level of trust yet Enlisted had pretty much none until they proved themselves. My question is more geared towards weapons, etc. we had to keep our weapons in the armory, even as military police, and we were pretty much treated like children even if we had professional experience in our field.

Response by PO2 Robert M. made Feb 19 at 2017 10:48 AM

PO2 Robert M. — Sun, 19 Feb 2017 10:48:03 -0500

Honestly, I do not know what you want us to state.
Trust has to be earned, much like respect.
I do not know of anyone that would say they trust someone because of what uniform they wear or the rank of the individual wearing the uniform ( in my own opinion ).

Response by WO1 Private RallyPoint Member made Feb 19 at 2017 10:48 AM

WO1 Private RallyPoint Member — Sun, 19 Feb 2017 10:48:40 -0500

This is a tough question but a good one so variables to consider and not just when it comes to the branch of military or even rank

Response by CPO Private RallyPoint Member made Feb 19 at 2017 12:09 PM

CPO Private RallyPoint Member — Sun, 19 Feb 2017 12:09:14 -0500

Well for one unless your down range all weapons are kept in armory, unless for training or FROCPCON goes up and requires that.

I am in a small community that has weapons all the time when deployed and we have First classes sometime Second classes in charge of small jobs and projects. We have to work in small teams or jobs all the time, I never saw the problem you are talking about in Seabees and other small NECC units. I will say though I did see base security forces do things and thought, we would never do things like that.

I think your force grew to quick after 911, and they did not have tactical type leaders that would have helped with this type of team work and small unit leadership.

I was Safety Chief and Disaster Recovery Chief at NSA Souda Bay for a year, and worked with Security Department all the time for emergency Management.They had just moved DRS/DRT into the Security department as it use to be a base PW function, but realigned when NAVFAC broke from falling under Base control and ran things themselves. Anyway, I tried to bring my Battalion type small unit leadership and ways of doing things and they didn't like iy. I tried to tell them, they should from platoons and Squads like we do, because yo can give leadership to junior troops and work as teams. They were not having any of that. MSRON'S and now Coastal Riverine operate like we do as fare as small unit teams and platoons.

Response by Lt Col Jim Coe made Feb 19 at 2017 12:31 PM

Lt Col Jim Coe — Sun, 19 Feb 2017 12:31:48 -0500

I was an Air Force transport pilot. We had to develop and exercise great trust in our fellow officers and enlisted personnel. The other officer aircrew members had specific duties they were expected to perform to standard with little or no supervision. We all had an interdependency with the enlisted aircrew whom we also expected to perform their duties with expertise and professionalism. I learned at least a cursory level of information about all of the other aircrew jobs, but I had to depend on the navigator, flight engineer, and loadmaster to do their jobs right. I might have spotted a gross error that would have killed us all, but maybe not. In short, our collective lives depended on each other doing our jobs.

As aircrew we trusted the enlisted supervisors and technicians who maintained and loaded the aircraft to a great extent. We mostly adopted a "trust but verify" attitude toward their work because their butt wasn't going to fly the mission with us. Of course, we had to have great trust in the technicians we never saw or perhaps even knew existed to do things like repair a jet engine or assemble a propeller. In that respect we trusted the quality control system to ensure repairs were done correctly.

We also had professional trust in other parts of the aviation experience, such as air traffic controllers. Again with a trust but verify approach to keep the flight safe and accomplishing the mission.

Response by CAPT Kevin B. made Feb 19 at 2017 4:02 PM

CAPT Kevin B. — Sun, 19 Feb 2017 16:02:15 -0500

Trust is enhanced by acute mission and skill performance levels. Given that, the SOF crowd would be a good pick. For a singular service, likely Marines. Increasing levels of drama in the other services.

Response by SMSgt Roger Horton made Feb 19 at 2017 4:33 PM

SMSgt Roger Horton — Sun, 19 Feb 2017 16:33:39 -0500

I don't know about other services but when as a Marine in FMF we kept our weapons individually. Had a place in wall locker to secure them but did not have ammo. While in the Florida Air National Guard our weapons was in an alarmed vault. When we went on field traing or Rifle range we drew them at the vault and kept them with us at all times.

Response by 1SG Al Brown made Feb 19 at 2017 7:04 PM

1SG Al Brown — Sun, 19 Feb 2017 19:04:05 -0500

Eventually, trust is everything. Doesn't matter what service branch. The bell always tolls.

Response by CW4 Craig Urban made Apr 17 at 2019 8:20 PM

CW4 Craig Urban — Wed, 17 Apr 2019 20:20:21 -0400

Air Force is number one

Response by MAJ Ken Landgren made Apr 18 at 2019 1:22 PM

MAJ Ken Landgren — Thu, 18 Apr 2019 13:22:17 -0400

When it comes to weapons, we had to follow rules, regulations, and procedures. A missing weapon is a career ender.