Posted on Oct 31, 2014
Why don't officers wear marksmanship badges?
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The day I turned my chevrons in for gold bars I noticed something. All the officers I've ever seen never wore marksmanship badges in dress uniforms. I just assumed they were unauthorized for officers and removed it voluntarily. I honestly never desired to wear the badge (probably because I was only ever a sharpshooter), but I haven't found any documentation specifically preventing officers from wearing them. Do you think officers should wear them?
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 764
I do not think so. I never wore them as a SSG. Even though I was a expert with my M14. As a warrant I qualified with a 38 and 45. I ran the Arms room as the PBO.
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Could be a carryover picked up from the German Army since German Officers are not permitted to wear the German Shooting Cord and although an American Officer may qualify for it, it may not be worn,
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Same reason officers don't do a PFT with enlisted; they don't want us to know if they suck. At least that's how it was in the Corps
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It is not what we think, it is what we enforce. All Soldiers, officer and enlisted, enforce the standards. More especially the Noncommissioned Officer. NCOs do not enforce the "culture." NCOs do not care about the culture of training and leading Soldiers. NCOs authority is derived from their commander and their respective policies which therein are derived from regulations. Whether you have a "desire" to wear them or not is irrelevant. It means you place subjective over objective. Which means you look for grey where there only is only black and white. This "culture" that is talked about is a prejudice. It is a limited viewpoint that most officers are sourced from ROTC and West Point.* I was an NCO (E-7) with 16 years in the Army right before I graduated OCS and was pinned 2nd Lieutenant. I was a pretty good shooter (mostly Sharpshooter and occasionally Expert) and I was darn proud of it and I rolled it into my pride with being in the Army. And I sure was proud of being an NCO and given the rare honor of becoming an Officer. *Not a critique of commissioning source at all. Don't misconstrue.
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1LT Rich Voss
CPT - great comment, I was a draftee that changed to enlisted for schools, then made it through all the tests etc to be accepted into OCS AND graduated. Only took me a year though. The NCOs in my class were "ridden" harder by our TAC officers and only one made it through. The guys that didn't make it were in not great physical shape and that was what the TACs worked on. They gave up and kept their rank, some got sent directly to Viet Nam. Only heard from one guy, ONCE ! Post card from 'Nam. Door gunner. I wear all three of my badges proudly (well, not now....they're in a box). My experience with new ROTC and West Pointers is that initially they weren't very great shots with our M1911A1, but they were riding in a TANK ! Close does count with a HEP round !
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Who cares? If anyone doubts my shooting abilities, let's go to the range. Honestly, nobody has ever brought up that I don't have one on. But then I'm a gun pilot...we all like guns and shooting stuff anyways.
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Military doctrine has taught that an officer is supposed to lead,and not fight so much.History has shown that battles go to the officers who are aggressive and fight.
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I have always thought that the Army uniform was max tacky. A PFC has so much "stuff" on his jacket that he is easily mistaken as a General. The Army needs to tone the hardware way down to stop looking like a costume instead of a uniform. JMO.
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CPT Michael Stephen
According to the posts, 749 do! And BTW! Not a good way to mentor the 1LT who asked the question intitially.
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If officers are not expected to be proficient in their weapon systems then why are armor officers required to qualify with their tanks? All of this talk about how officers are planners and leaders and not in the shooting business seems to me to be a moot point when the bullets start flying. Every battalion commander, company commander, and platoon leader I ever served with qualified their tank with their tank crew. As officers they were expected to not only lead the battle, they were expected to actually fight their tank. They were tank crew members that were very much in the putting steel on target business and in the development and implementation of the plan. Someone mentioned the "burden" of command in an above post. I would suggest that if you believe that to command is a "burden" you should apply for an an immediate retirement of your commission. Command is a privilege not a burden. To insinuate otherwise is an insult to a long line of officers that have had the privilege of commanding soldiers and doing it better than any other military in the world. Officers are soldiers first. Leaders second. If all of your position is overrun and it is down to you and a few soldiers nobody cares what your rank is, they want you to be proficient at your fist job and that is to put bullets into bad guys.
I never really cared whether my officers wore their bolo badges or not. I only cared that they were proficient in their job. That included basic soldiering skills. I never cared about "officer" culture. Just do your job.
I never really cared whether my officers wore their bolo badges or not. I only cared that they were proficient in their job. That included basic soldiering skills. I never cared about "officer" culture. Just do your job.
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1LT Rich Voss
Sarge - if you're not or haven't been a "Tanker" I'll eat my nasty "Mickey Mouse" hat. I was one of very, very few Officers that were in Germany long enough during the mid-late 60's to have the opportunity and ability to take 3 different crews through TCQC. AND qualify each time. I still have my ancient Field Jacket with my 1967 patch on the pocket. We wore them with honor, everywhere you'd wear that jacket as part of the daily uniform. Also wore three hats for a time: HHC tank platoon leader, Mortar platoon leader, and Scout platoon leader. Qualified the first two, they wouldn't let me take that armor plated Corvette down the tank range and shoot up stuff with the 20mm cannon, darn it ! Anyway, I've got all three badges full of tabs. Many from when I was a draftee infantyman. On Purpo quase ! Some of us wanted lots of "stuff" to wear on our dress uniforms, so you'd get one each of Marksman and Sharpshooter, and then show your real "stuff". Never did get expert with my tank crews though, and that's the way it goes. Always had a new trainee as loader just before quali.....
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