Why don't officers wear marksmanship badges?

yes officers lead from the front. Marines of all ranks wear their shoot badges

Marine Officers wear their marksmanship badges.

Marine officers WEAR the marksman badge they qualified.

No idea about Army regulations or customs. However, for the Marine Corps, marksmanship badges are worn with dress blues when ribbons are authorized. For more formal dress occasions, medals will be required and marksmanship badges are never worn with the full medal. The applies to both officer and enlisted uniforms.

Back in 1991 I put the expert badge for pistol on my uniform. A female officer told me I should not wear it, that it was an enlisted thing. I was proud of it as hardly anyone, especially officers, were qualified to wear it. I asked her why not, but she could come up with no real reason. This is the first time I ever even heard of "officer culture." Of course I never wore any ribbons nor medals on any uniform except the dress uniform. After my encounter with the female officer I started to note if it was being worn and found a good number of officers wearing lower marksmanship badges. I never heard anyone complain at them. It does seem strange that some sort of informal "culture" would dictate not wearing something you earned and difficult to earn on top of that.

Most of them can't shoot . . . .

USMC Officers proudly wear Expert Marksman badges. Navy officers wear a ribbon that denotes marksmanship.

As a former Navy officer (LCDR) I can only say that the Army and Air Force are very different from the USN and USMC. Could it be that a junior Army officer wearing a badge showing that he's a better shot than his CO might be "bad form?"

Unless you went to the Academy, ALL Soldiers start out as Basic Infantrymen (11B). We all have to qualify. We ALL should wear the awards earned, except for expert grenade. No one I ever knew wore that one.

I believe Officers should wear them, as it is not often that we wear Class As anyway, unless assigned to a D.C. type of unit or embassy. It is a qualification insignia - no different than Aviator wings or EOD badge insignia... if a Soldier earns it and if it is authorized for wear and display - then wear it regardless of rank. I earned my Marksmanship badges as an Enlisted Soldier and as an NCO when serving as an M1-A1 Armored Crewmember. When I became MI Officer and later as a CI Special Agent, I discovered that by wearing my Pistol / Rifle Expert badge - my troops and civilian agents felt the desire to compete with me to see if they could perform better than me on the range. I admire that kind of team spirited competition. One day there was a Post Shooting Competition - and because I had spent time serving on both a Pistol and Rifle Team - shooting was a fun sport for me, and combat only enhanced my skills as a Soldier and as an Agent. I had done very well that day and the Post CSM approached me to make me aware that I was going to receive special recognition from him and the CG along with a coin and trophy. I asked if anyone else knew how well I had shot that day, and who was the next best shooter on the range. The CSM said a young 19 year old female MP was actually the next best shooter - only a year out of AIT, and she came within one point of my score! I told the CSM that was who really deserved the recognition and award... and while I appreciated the kind gesture by the CG & CSM - such recognition on a Captain with 15 years of service with prior Enlisted & NCO time + combat experience wouldn't mean as much as it would to a 19 year old female MP just beginning her career in the Army, and imagine her excitement and phone calls to her parents and siblings about this special recognition she just earned. I asked the CSM + the NCO running the range and the CG to please announce the young MP as the highest shooter as she had only missed outscoring me by 1 point. The CSM allowed me to announce the scores and I said I had officially been outshot by a young MP whose Army training and the time she spent with her Dad on the farm back home shooting had clearly paid off, and the Army was fortunate to have such an excellent Marksman in the MP Corps. I called her to the front of the formation and the CSM and the CG presented her with the awards. Her smile and excitement is one of those rare moments the Army prides itself upon as older Soldiers pass the torch onto younger Troops! We likely encouraged a young girl who had enlisted for college money and to gain experience to join a federal agency later after the Army, may have just decided at that moment to stay in the Army - because when I shook her hand and congratulated her after the CSM and CG presented her awards - she asked me about becoming an Officer or becoming a Warrant Officer and later serving as a CI or CID Special Agent. I spoke with her in detail about her career and opportunities to later serve as a Commissioned Officer or Warrant Officer and to serve as an Army CI or CID Special Agent. I explained that she made a wise decision to serve as an Enlisted Soldier first, and I told her to continue with her part-time college education and to pursue her opportunity for a commission or warrant commission after serving a few years as a NCO. That was 13 years ago... she is now a Commissioned Officer and doing very well in her career! The last time we spoke she talked about that day on the range and how that day motivated her to make the Army a career and how much she enjoys coaching and mentoring younger Soldiers now - and how much she especially enjoys going to the range with her Soldiers - and the friendly competition she puts forth on the range to see who serves for bragging rights as the unit "Top Gun"! I asked her if she had been outperformed on the range yet - and she said she had a young 21 year old female Lieutenant who is their unit "Top Gun"... she too grew up with a Dad who was an Army Ranger - apparently she spent some "Dad - daughter" time on the range too, and she was also on the high school Army JROTC air rifle shooting team. And so it begins - another generation leading the Army and another generation of excellent Marksman ("Markswoman") - as I am kindly reminded from time to time!

Infantry officers always wore qual badges. As everyone should.

Marine Corps Officers wear marksmanship badges.