RE: [DL] Butterbars? [OT?]

["Heivilin, Jim" <banzai@missouri.edu>]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: vonweitzel@bellsouth.net [mailto:vonweitzel@bellsouth.net] 
> Subject: Re: [DL] Butterbars?
> 
Let me toss a few facts at the situation. 

> A butter bar is a 2nd Lieutenant in the army, air force and 
> Marine Corps or an Ensign in the Navy.  They are the most 
> junior commissioned officer rank. 90% are fresh college 
> graduates that go through a rudimentary basic training.  
>
The number is probably higher than that considering that the Service
Academies are considered "college" as well.  And the only two other paths to
commissioning (that I'm aware of) are direct commission (only done if
someone has a particular set of skills the service wants, for example,
doctors, dentists and sometimes lawyers may be directly commissioned) and
OCS (Officer Candidate School - the path he talks about below whereby an
enlisted soldier may receive a commission).  Of course that doesn't include
battlefield commissions.  Many of the usual rules change in a combat zone.  

> Most also go through a basic career school, but not all.  
>
In the peacetime services the number of officers who don't attend their
services or branches Officer Basic Course (OBC) is miniscule.  Even the
directly commissioned doctors, dentists and lawyers will go to some course.
Typically these range from two to eighteen months in duration depending upon
which branch or service you're in (for example the Engineer's Officer Basic
Course I went to many years ago was 18 weeks in duration, however ORWAC -
Officer's Rotary Wing Aviator's Course - can be as long as eighteen months
depending on which track [what aircraft you learn to fly] you're in).  

> They are in effect 22-24 year old inexperienced novices 
> thrown in to a position of leadership.  They are 
> responsible for and in charge of, in an infantry
> unit, a platoon of around 30-40 enlisted men.  Lucky ones 
> will have good Sergeants take them under wing and teach 
>
And what's more important, the lucky SMART ones will listen to these
Sergeants.  A platoon sergeant is typically an E-7 Sergeant First Class
(SFC) and will have between eight and twelve or fourteen years in the
service.  By this time they've learn two major things; 1) how to do their
job (whatever that may be, be it infantry, engineering, tanker, or mechanic)
and 2) how to teach young officers how to do theirs (this part usually
happens in the last few years at the E-7 level).  

> them how to be good leaders, but not all are lucky.  
>
Or not all listen to the sergeants.  

"Why, sir?" 
"Because I'm in charge here, sergeant!"

> The other 10% are "mustangs"  former enlisted men that
> gain their commission.  They are usually a little better off 
> and have some experience.  
>
Usually but not always.  Some of them go to OCS because they hate their
officers and believe they can do a better job.  If they're fortunate they
discover the job isn't *nearly* as easy as they thought it would be and
learn.  If not then they often make worse officers than the ROTC (Reserve
Officer's Training Corps - what the college boys do to get commissioned)
pukes. 

> The majority however do not.  It is, in effect the equivalent
> of hiring a college kid straight in to a mid-level management 
> position with no prior experience.
> 
Absurd.  In the military where a member of senior management, who might be
in charge of, oh say and entire theater of conflict including several
divisions (several thousand troops, lots of equipment), air assets (several
squadrons if not wings of various types of aircraft), naval assets (and I
don't have a lot of knowledge about how the Navy is operationally organized)
and such (think General Schwarzkopf in Desert Storm), command of a platoon
IS an entry level position.  Company command *might* even be considered to
be "entry" level and you have to have three to five years time in service to
get there.  

Mid level management would be battalion command.  Typically a Lieutenant
Colonel.  My two stick buddies from Europe (we were platoon leaders
together) are senior majors having gone up for promotion to Lieutenant
Colonel or approaching that.  And we were platoon leaders in Germany in
1986.  They both graduated from West Point in 1985.  Which means they have
15 years time in service now.  

Okay, sorry about the soap box.  I just get a little touchy when
misinformation concerning the military crops up.  Allan, John and some
others can verify most, if not all, of what I've said.  Although Allan has
different opinions of an officer's worth than I do.  He must have had some
of those not-so-good officers.  

Jim 

Jim Heivilin, System Administrator
IAT Services, Open Systems Team 
University of Missouri at Columbia
mailto:banzai@missouri.edu, 573-884-3898