Officer/Enlisted Relationships

[Spekkio]

Yes and no. Good leaders inspire (and treat) ALL Sailors like adults. When we stop holding them accountable (and to standards) you're right, they won't act like adults.

I agree with you of course, but I wasn't talking about holding them to standards of conduct. I was more so talking about:

Officer with an hour until next meeting: look at to-do list, prioritize what to work on in the next hour.
Junior enlisted with an hour until a training event: check in with LPO and get assigned what to do next.

The latter can be particularly frustrating to someone with a college degree and job experience who is used to doing her own work her own way. On top of that, she will be reporting to an E-6 or Chief who may or may not believe in inspirational leadership when the officers leave the space. The level of daily BS snowballs as you go down the totem pole.

And then it's back to money. Solid E5 and above have responsibility and latitude to get the job done.

And as mentioned about, Officers get lots more dollars. The kid wanted an argument to be an officer vs enlisted for his girlfriend. And money is it.

Money certainly isn't everything but when you work like a slave it's nice to be compensated. And as previously mentioned I work with several retired NSW E-8/9s and pretty much to a person the retirement pay was a kick in the nuts (but there really is no excuse for it, everyone knows it's BASE PAY). They had as much or more responsibility that lots of non-command officers - millions of dollars of boats, equipment, personnel, responsibility, etc - and were getting paid nearly what O-4s make... until retirement, when all the extra bennies go away.

He specifically asked for something besides the pay/benefits in his previous post. The daily life and job description of an enlisted IDC vs. SWO is very different, and the old saying 'money doesn't buy happiness' may apply here.

To your other points: I'm not sure why you think the SEAL culture and special pays are relevant here since she isn't applying for it. Only under limited and exceptional circumstances have I seen an E-5 have significant responsibility within a division. Yes, by that time they usually know the routine enough to go in, get the day's assignments from Chief and go to work, but as far as being responsible for people, maintenance planning, training planning, etc? Not usually.

 

[ltedge46]

I've known a few junior enlisted folks who were college graduates. My brother, who started as a selres and earned his degree, actually re-enlisted as a TAR (now FTS) after realizing he didn't like being an accountant. He enjoyed the hands on aspect of being a maintainer, but eventually after failing to promote to E6 3 times in a row (passed exam but not advanced due to limited TAR billets), he put in an OCS package and is now an O4 AMDO. He's very happy that he did considering the huge pay difference. I had an E6 maintainer once who had a masters degree and a pretty sizable retirement account(during the tech boom) who just loved what he was doing and didn't want the extra responsibility/BS to deal with as an officer.

So, what does your GF want for her career? Does she want the extra responsibility and associated freedoms/QOL that comes with being an officer or does she want to just be assigned tasks to do and go home at the end of her shift, knowing that sometimes those tasks amount to taking out the trash or working in the pulper on the boat.

All this being said, the life of an enlisted CT is a lot different than that of an AT or ABE.