Why don't officers wear marksmanship badges?

I suppose it started with someone who just couldn't hit more than 23 pop ups, and didn't want to wear the 'iron cross of shame' when everyone else shot expert. At any rate officers are managers. Even when armed with a rifle they are tasked with directing the battle.

I have had officers show up at EIC matches because they wanted to wear something marksmanship related on their uniforms. The EIC is a permanent award with orders cut from the AMU at Ft Benning so you earn it once you own it.

The philosophy seems to stem from two schools of thought:

1. an Officer's primary role in combat is not to fight, but to manage the firepower under his charge. Part of this responsibility requires rapid movement between positions and locations, which makes firing (and even simply carrying) a firearm a secondary measure.

2. an Officer is expected to be a master of everything that occurs in a unit; he appoints NCOs to train and mentor, and expects junior officers to also attend that training... the assumption however is that Officers become experts because they are trained by NCOs, and since they're considered "experts by default", the badge is not necessary.

Personally, I don't see the point either way. I've noticed plenty of people (especially seniors) who don't even perform APFT events to standard... probably not the best strategy to have more things on the uniform when we need to focus on the standards in question.

I have heard that it's tradition that officers set the example of what right looks like, therefore it is supposed to be assumed that officers are expert marksmen because we set the example

I was an enlisted man for 3 years, including a 12 month stint in Vietnam. After that I took ROTC at college and made a career out of the Army Reserve that included Operation Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom [at age 58 no less!]. I was always proud to wear my marksmenship badges. Most NCOs and junior enlisted troops always complemented me on my skill set. I was sought out on the range for coaching marginal shooters. I wonder why some officers are afraid to show their skill level? It takes extra time to practice and its at your own expense but every military leader, no matter what his or her MOS is actually in the final analysis a leader of a platoon or company of riflemen. Our skills with military weapons is a bedrock part of our military skill set and leadership ability.

I was told, upon graduation and pinning on my wobbly ones, that "tradition" says officers don't wear them, therefore we shouldn't wear them (this was from a schoolhouse Warrant). A week later, I was talking with a senior crusty old Warrant. He had his Expert Marksman badge on his jacket. We had the same discussion. He said "I am a Warrant, that means I was prior enlisted. I know it, the troops know it and the COL knows it. I earned this badge and I'm wearing it. The RLO's don't wear it because they don't have a clue how to shoot a rifle and couldn't qualify if they had to. Wear it." So I did. I may have been in the minority, but then again I've never been afraid to stick out. Honestly, I think it's rather deceitful and indicator of shame when prior enlisted try to remove all traces that they were enlisted. I am not ashamed that I was an NCO before I was a Warrant.

I'll give you an honest answer. I am an officer, a physician in the Army. Not all officers are created equally. Unlike soldiers in the MTOE units, I have been to the M-16/M-4 range two times over 7 years, both times to qualify. I barely qualified.

I can't help you on this one. I only know about the Marines, and every Marine wears their rifle and pistol qualification medals.

They do in many cases. I was an enlisted man for 13 years and shortly after making E-7 I became a warrant officer, retiring at the grade of CW3. I fired "Expert" with 6 different weapons as an EM/Sr. NCO and proudly wore my expert badge with a pretty long "ladder" on my uniform after becoming an officer.

I am a prior SSG- I wear mine sometimes, mostly for kicks. Most people don't notice. I agree with the Marine though...

Why advertise that youre only a marksman if you can just let them guess? Until range time that is.