G.I. Joe Classified Series: The Chatty Pointless Thread & Performance Art

Speaking as a former enlisted guy, there is a slight misconception of the ranks and their rolls that a lot of people have. Now granted I'm speaking from an Air Force point of view as each service is a little different. There was a noticeable shift, I want to say around the mid 80's , when it became less of the Officers being the smart college guys and enlisted just doing whatever they said. It's very much a manager(officer) and subject matter expert (enlisted) relationship. So for a guy like Stalker, who I would say spent at least 10-15 years in before joining up with Joe, would probably never take a commission as that would totally remove him from the job that he has become an expert in. The enlisted force nowadays is a much smarter force than it was 30+ years ago. I'm not talking about I.Q., more in that decision making and leadership skill amongst the enlisted, specifically the NCO/SNCO corp, is of a bit more complex than it used to be. I've worked with SNCO's fulfilling jobs that 20+ years ago where chaired by Capt and Majors. Whole missions get planned by enlisted, presented to the officers and than signed off by them after they verify it meets the intent of the directive.

So not to bore anybody with word salad, but it's the one thing I have real world experience with, so it always sounds off and silly when it's stated how somebody in Duke's or Stalkers position would go officer, when they very much wouldn't. Now the argument could be said that in the world of Joe, they have so many exemptions to how they operate that maybe they could pretty much do their jobs however they wanted. Hell, they let a guy in a Hawaiian shirt and camo pants go on the battle field so they aren't that picky.
 
Spongyblue said:
So not to bore anybody with word salad, but it's the one thing I have real world experience with, so it always sounds off and silly when it's stated how somebody in Duke's or Stalkers position would go officer, when they very much wouldn't.
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Oh wow thank you so much for this!!!
Expertise is much welcome and I love to hear the “real world” of it all, even as I also enjoy my lasers and monsters.
 
Everybody's military experience is different, and I like to try and share what little bit I know with folks who haven't had that exposure. I remember my Aunt years ago (Enlisted Army medic for 22 years) was having a mini argument with my grandmother. Granny was an Officers wife back in the 50's and 60's where it was very much an "Us" and 'them' point of view between officer and enlisted. So never understood why my Aunt went enlisted and stayed enlisted. "You're so smart, why aren't you an Officer?" Which my Aunt would reply "Do you realize how many enlisted that have been in as long as I have that have degrees? We aren't just the dumb folks standing around not knowing what to do waiting for some officer to tell us what to do."

And there are differences amongst the services like I said. The Air Force seems to have a much smaller divide between the O's and E's, depending on which sector of the force you are dealing with. I've had Commander's who go "Here is the mission, what do we need to execute?" Some other branch's can't be that fortunate. I've seen Marines work twice as hard, twice as long to get the job done because they had to do things the a few select folks said it had to go instead of the leadership relying on the folks heading up the job to let the leaders know whats what.

To circle back to Stalker, he is probably my favorite Joe, because as an enlisted dude, he knew his shit, his boss knows he knows his shit and everyone under him knew he knew his shit. And he's from my hometown. The dude who was all business 24/7, except for holidays and BBQ's where he would cut up something serious and make you think "Man this dude is funny", but come Monday morning don't come bringing that silly shit here, get to work.
 
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