Why are the Ratios for officers and enlisted so different between the services?

Cpl Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 17 May 2016 21:09:18 -0400

Ratio of Ranks. The DoD Active Duty force has one officer for every 4.8 enlisted personnel. In
comparison, the Air Force has one officer for every 4.1 enlisted personnel, the Army has one
officer for every 4.5 enlisted personnel, the Navy has one officer for every 4.9 enlisted
personnel, and the Marine Corps has one officer for every 8.1 enlisted personnel.

Or at least why does the Marines have less officers?

Response by Sgt Aaron Kennedy, MS made May 17 at 2016 9:13 PM

Sgt Aaron Kennedy, MS — Tue, 17 May 2016 21:13:47 -0400

It's a product of "scale." As the service gets larger you need more Officers, because you need more "Tail for the Spear."

The USMC has LOTS of Spear, not so much Tail. The Army has LOTS of Tail (it's 3x the size).

The USAF & USN have associated Equipment which causes their Officer Counts to go up (Pilots are required to be officers).

Edit: Example: Perfect USMC World 1 officer per 40~ Troops (Infantry Platoon). However at Company Level you add in 2 Additional Officers, so now the ratio is 30:1 instead of 40:1, bump that to BN level and add in the Staff Officers there (like the S2 shop who has 4 people total.... ratio drops again).

Bigger the Organization, more Officers it has at the highest levels, throwing off the ratios. More Pilots and "Non-Troop Leading" Officers, the more skewed the ratio becomes.

Response by MAJ Private RallyPoint Member made May 18 at 2016 9:09 AM

MAJ Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 18 May 2016 09:09:32 -0400

Do your numbers also reflect Warrant Officers? The Air Force does not have WOs, which means all of their pilots are Commissioned Officers. The USAF mission and it's aircraft centric model also means it needs more pilots than the USMC, which would also account for some of the difference in ratios.

Response by CSM Darieus ZaGara made May 19 at 2016 2:36 PM

CSM Darieus ZaGara — Thu, 19 May 2016 14:36:25 -0400

It is solely based on specialty and duty requirements, this is not only between services but branches as well.

Response by Sgt Edward Allen made Jan 21 at 2017 9:52 AM

Sgt Edward Allen — Sat, 21 Jan 2017 09:52:03 -0500

Because NCOs are the leaders in the Marine Corps. If you were to look further, you would also find that the Marine Corps has a higher percentage of junior enlisted as well.