"Fred J. McCall" wrote in message
...
R. David Steele /OMEGA wrote:

:The Navy seems to under use its enlisted. Officers do things
:that an Army NCO would do normally.

What planet is THAT on? What would those tasks be?

Yes, unless things have radically changed in the 12 years that I've been
out, I'd have to agree with Fred's sentiments. Having spent many years of my
precious life either afloat or on Army bases (since I didn't get to see
where I lived in the squadbay very much), I never noticed a real difference
between the Navy or the Army in terms of delegation of responsibility. In
fact, I'd give the USN an overall edge in that regard, not the other way
around.

It's easy to draw a conclusion from relatively few observations,
particularly if it's of a certain occupational specialty. But extrapolation
is dangerous. And seeing officers occasionally do things which seem to be
the purview of junior enlisted or senior enlisted is not grounds for
assuming that that is how the normal state of affairs is. I've seen junior
USN officers on gators pitch in sometimes to help with really long-duration
intensive UNREPS/VERTREPS, when they see that the Marines and sailors are
getting exhausted. And, although it's stretching the example some, you can
have a tent team leader who is a PFC (in Arctic warfare), and he can tell
his lieutenant or major what to do with respect to his duties on the tent
team...doesn't mean that 95% of the time the major isn't in complete charge.

I have a formal course in combat intelligence from the Canadian Forces, not
to mention my gunner's, FDC, FOO Tech, and radio communicator courses, and
in the USMC, I have my 0811 and 0861 MOS courses, plus NGFS and amphibious
warfare schools. In theory (not that I could do it now, but I'm talking of
back when) I could have done what an officer was supposed to do, and
frequently did just that. Vice versa, officers should generally know how to
do what their people are supposed to do, and will occasionally be observed
doing just that. I like knowing that it's not just the junior guys at the
battery CP that know how to operate the ballistics computer, and I like
knowing that the 2nd Lt FO who I am backing up actually knows how to operate
a laser designator and call in NGF SEAD (because, after all, I might get
killed before he does), and given the limited number of officers, I am sure
*they* like knowing that I am fully conversant with Regt FSCC/SACC/DASC
operations, because that gives them a few extra hours of sleep.

If you happen to observe me doing something that an officer normally does a
few times, and don't see the officer doing something that I normally do, you
may draw the conclusion that enlisted are empowered. If OTOH it's the
opposite, you'll start thinking that the service is like the fUSSR.

As I say, I agree with Fred. I never got that impression about that
difference between the Army and the Navy.

AHS