Posted on May 16, 2022
MAJ Norm Michaels
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This social experiment on soldiers was started in the late 1960s, and it mostly died away in the late 1980s, with the exception of SP4. Is a team leader SP4 any less of a leader than a corporal?
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LTC Field Artillery Officer
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Cause with no SPC's there would be no E-4 Mafia... MAJ Norm Michaels..!
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CPT Special Forces Officer
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They need more privates of the guard than they need sergeants of the guard.
A corporal is an NCO, but a SP4 is not.
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SPC James Williams
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I had no desire to be an NCO. I had the points to do it, but had no plans on reenlisting, so never went to the board. There were plenty of soldiers that wanted to make a career out of the Army, so why take an NCO slot? That was my thinking.
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SFC Tomaso Santomauro
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Excellent point Sir.
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SSG Brian Carpeneter
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Keeping it really simple Tech ranks would have no authority but would still want to yell bitch and moan at any NCO rank below them. But alas if you were a tech rank the NCO rank automatically outrank you when it comes to troop training and discipline issues in such there is your dilemma. A SGT can tell a SPC8 to go fly a kite if they wanted to.
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LCpl Michael Cappello
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Because they are "Special". So Special.
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SGT Erick Holmes
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Ahhhhh the famous E4. The best rank you can have LOL. I hope they don't change this rank. I think there should be more opportunities for the e4 rank. At the time I was in it was WLC. This shouldnt be a pass or fail it should more of knowledge and training.
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SGM Art Hudson
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Because of the specialization of this rank. all will not be in a leadership position to wear the rank of corporal. So this rank recognizes those in a non-leadership position.
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SSG John C Quigley II
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It is strange that they did away with the Specialist ranks, yet there are many NCO's who are specialists such as Nuclear, Computer Programmers, and for me I was a E-6 supply Sgt. I kind of look at that as a specialty and there are others that might be seen as specialty ranks as well. But like all the nonsense the military has experimented with over the years, this is one more.
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CW2 UH-60 Pilot
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Its roots were actually a Congressional Budget Issue: The Army SP4 and USAF Senior Airman "SRA" Ranks were created to slow down promotions to Sergeant!
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