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I always thought it was an officer who made it through the ranks without going to a military school. Am I right?
All U.S. Military personnel go through a variety of military schooling. That in itself does not distinguish the difference in Enlisted, Warrant Officer and Commisioned Officers. For United States Military, the basic definition for Noncommissioned Officers (NCOs) is; An enlisted personnel of a specific rank. In the United States Army, United States Air Force and United States Marine Corps, all ranks of Sergeant are termed Noncommissioned Officers (NCOs), as are Corporals in the Army and Marine Corps. The rank of Corporal (E-4) in the Army is a junior NCO, and is to be shown the same respect as any other NCO. In the United States Navy and United States Coast Guard, all ranks of Petty Officer are so designated. Junior NCOs (E-4 through E-6 grade), or simply "NCOs" (E-4 and E-5 only) in USMC usage, function as first tier supervisors and technical leaders.
Poncho_NM, it looks like the USAF is the only branch that doesn't consider E-4s as NCOs. I believe it was 1975 when the E-4 rank title was changed from "Sergeant" to "Senior Airman". (E-4 was also informally called "Buck Sergeant") When you are promoted to Senior Airman, you enter your formal training for NCO status.
I was a Sergeant E-4 in the USAF back in the late 80's. The dropped Sergeant rank back in 1991. You got promoted to Senior Airman and then Sergeant when you finished Airman Leadership School. The two ranks had different chevrons
I always thought it was an officer who made it through the ranks without going to a military school. Am I right?
Not quite. Simplistically, NCOs are leaders (officers) with all the responsibilities that entails. They lead small units such as teams, detachments and squads.
Officers are appointed and commissioned by the President as leaders of larger units - platoons, companies/troops and above.
I always thought it was an officer who made it through the ranks without going to a military school. Am I right?
It's not that Enlisted leads into Commissioned - they are two separate and somewhat parallel (rather than linear/hierarchical) orders - each has it's own bottom and top of the pack. There are Enlisted ranks, and there are Commissioned 'ranks.' Non-Commissioned Officers exist only in the Enlisted ranks.
Typically, Enlisted Soldiers did not attend a military school such as USMA, West Point, but there are exceptions. Usually, when someone attends USMA, West Point s/he then enters the US Military as a Commissioned Officer. There are instances where Officers are de-commissioned and can serve in an Enlisted capacity. Also, there are other ways to become a Commissioned Officer without having gone through a traditional Military Academy.
The OP might also be thinking of Field Promotions - this is when an Enlisted Soldier or Commissioned Officer is promoted during war time service. There were instances when an Enlisted Soldier was promoted to Commissioned Officer (Audie Murphy is a famous example) but I don't think that's happened since WWII. Since then, though, there were still Field Promotions where an Enlisted Soldier was promoted within the enlisted ranks during battle (or a Commissioned Officer was promoted within the Commissioned ranks.)
Poncho_NM, it looks like the USAF is the only branch that doesn't consider E-4s as NCOs. I believe it was 1975 when the E-4 rank title was changed from "Sergeant" to "Senior Airman". (E-4 was also informally called "Buck Sergeant") When you are promoted to Senior Airman, you enter your formal training for NCO status.
Yes, somewhere along that time Air Force E-4's rank was called Sergeant and for the Army an E-4 was a SP4 (Specialist 4th Class) or Corporal.
The Marines look at the separation of Officer and Enlisted like this: Officer's make policy, Enlisted carry out and enforce policy. Officer's figure out what needs to be done, while NCOs figure out how it's going to be done and make sure it get's done. Officer's would be equivalent to executives, while NCOs would be management. For positions where there is no way to effectively plan/write policy without real world experience the Marine Corps has Warrant Officers, whcih can also become restricted line officers. Warrant Officers come from enlisted duty experts in their field. When a WO changes his commission into a restrcited line officer he'll wear the rank of a Captain and can advance up to a Colonel. He gets all the pay and benefits of an "unrestricted" line officer but can never command. Which is why they can't progress above Colonel (and usually top out at LtCol). All Generals command. This means that a restricted line officer can be an OIC and be charge of a section (like the comm shop, or motor t) but can never be a platoon cmdr, company cmdr, or CO. Regardless, this would be an example of an enlisted person who worked their way up through the ranks. Back to NCOs there relationship is closely tied to the Officers and train, mentor, and advise them.
When I was in the service (67-70)there was a difference between NCO's and enlisted personal, NCO's attended NCO training and were put in charge of enlisted personal, they were concidered Staff personal. There were two types of enlisted personel, NCO's and Specialist, Specialist started at the rank of E-4 and went to E-8 and were not concidered NCO's but I understand that this has change in todays Army.
Typically, Enlisted Soldiers did not attend a military school such as USMA, West Point, but there are exceptions. Usually, when someone attends USMA, West Point s/he then enters the US Military as a Commissioned Officer. There are instances where Officers are de-commissioned and can serve in an Enlisted capacity.
How and why would this usually happen, and at whose instigation? Do commissioned personnel get their bars snipped off for poor performance or insubordination, like the old melodramatic stereotype where the superior says "I was in error giving you this!" [R-R-RRRIPP! as he pulls the stripe off]? Or is it more likely a situation where the officer in question decides he'd rather work in a more hands-on capacity? I am aware that the pay scale for higher enlisted grades will be higher than that for lower O levels, as well, so a "demotion" might not mean lower pay, necessarily.
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Also, there are other ways to become a Commissioned Officer without having gone through a traditional Military Academy.
I'm aware of three, based on what I've heard/read:
Direct commission into service, as with MDs and other highly educated specialists and professionals needed in wartime
ROTC, for students at non-military colleges who participate in an ongoing military science curriculum and are commissioned as ensigns or second lieutenants on graduation
Tapped from enlisted ranks for Officer Candidate School
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