Why don't officers wear marksmanship badges?

I always did wear mine, primarily because I always shot Expert, as a soldier, an NCO and as an Officer. I wanted my troops to know that their officer could shoot straight if need be.

Have you ever seen an officer at a firing range? Have you ever seen an officer, that wasn't in a SPECOPS group, try to qualify? Hell, I wouldn't want to wear a BOLO badge either... KIDDING... COL Smallfield summed it up well..

In the old days it was normal to wear. This informal not wearing was probably a way for a poor shooting officer to cover his ass with “I am an expert” in all that I do etc. so I don’t wear it.

Must be an Army thing. Marine officers wear theirs with the exception of a few uniforms where they are not worn, same as enlisted.

As many have said, by and large what an officer does with their weapon isn't that important. For the most part they should be concentrating on other things. However, it's embarrassing to have your command photo on the wall with pizza boxes, so we try to avoid that.

From experience, the badges do absolutely come out to play for inspections/ceremonies when we like to look shiny for the audience.

They don't want to show off that pizza box...

I was originally told the answer by my Battalion Commander. He was an old Cavalry Officer that earned my respect and trust and drove me to earn my commission. I eventually read the "Patton Papers" to learn where he got it from.

Please allow me to put this wonderful debate to bed. General George S. Patton put this one to bed in his books "The Patton Papers" I am not going to go back through them and find the page to reference the quote for you (sorry). I had the same observation and question in 1984 when I enlisted. The answer is thus; General Patton said "Officers do not wear qualification badges because they are expected to be experts in their field! this includes ALL weapon systems they may encounter!"

I was at Carlisle Barracks getting an official photograph taken for my file when I was questioned by a Colonel who was there for the same thing. He wanted to know why I, as a Warrant Officer was wearing a marksmanship badge. He told me that officers weren't permitted to wear the badge, and i told him that the regulation said all, and that meant everybody. I wore it like I wore every badge and ribbon given to me as symbol of my pride in my accomplishments and my Army. Officers have the right to choose and i chose my badge. I would have worn it if it was just a marksman. I think sometimes officers don't wear the badge either because they haven't qualified with a weapon for years or they are embarrassed that they can't hit the target with watermelon. By the way the Colonel left for a half an hour and returned wearing his marksmanship badge

In the Navy, marksmanship qualifications are denoted by actual medals rather than badges. It's fairly common to see officers wearing the pistol marksmanship ribbon. It's not that common to see enlisteds wearing either the pistol or rifle medal unless they're in a billet that requires it (such as MA), or are SEALs.
The medals are temporary at first, but after one qualifies three times it is permanent. And one may continue to shoot to raise their qualification level. An S is added to the medal or ribbon for sharpshooter and an E for expert.