Noncommissioned Officer Essay

Exhibiting slight variations in their professional treatment of [noncommissioned] officers and enlisted personnel, each branch of service uniquely identifies respective roles and responsibilities. In general, enlisted service members sign contracts obligating them to a particular branch of service for some duration of time and once expired, each member typically has an option to renew or exit altogether. Traveling a different path to officer ranking compared to their commissioned counterparts emanating from graduates of traditional colleges or service academies, enlistees establish eligibility for noncommissioned officers (NCO) promotion. Dating back to 1775 and the birth of the Continental Army, where it grew out of militia units of colonial America and Anglo-Saxons before that, the noncommissioned officer has a rich tradition. With their …show more content…
More recent decades find a decided push for formal education like that of the U.S. Army’s Sergeants Major Academy founded in 1972. The Academy, boasting a world-class staff and academic faculty, provides college-level education to members of the Army, other service branches and international students earning a baccalaureate, masters or even doctoral degrees. Today’s military encourages enlistments to utilize an extensive education network of academic institutions called Servicemembers Opportunity Colleges (SOC) which award academic credit for military experience effectively accelerating the earning of a college degree. Unquestionably, enlisted men and women remain on lower pay scales compared to commissioned officers, receive fewer benefits and likely experience a higher degree of reassignment. In short, noncommissioned officers generate the action. Their role includes understanding, following a designated chain of command and accepting the consequences in any