[adorno]

In the military, the real leaders are those of rank E-4 and above. They know the ropes and can lead squads and even companies, and sometimes battalions. I know; I saw first-hand how my sergeants took the leads in Vietnam. The officers took the reports and plans and orders from above, but, in combat, officers are not that needed.

It’s like in football, where the real leader on the field is the quarterback. The quarterback gets the plans from the coach and leads his men in execution.

[DUMBGRUNT]

__”In the military, the real leaders are those of rank E-4 and above.”

The backbone of the US military is the NCO corps.
The Chinese are attempting to develop an NCO corps.
This does not happen with tribes/factions running everything.

IMO company-grade officers are a training/selection process for some heavy lifting.

[Rockingham]

Despite recent reform efforts, the Russian Army does not have a modern, reliable, well-trained NCO corps. As a result, Russian Army junior officers are required to fulfill the leadership role in combat that sergeants perform in the US and other Western militaries.

In addition, Russian military doctrine relies heavily on detailed battle plans, with troops and lower ranking officers expected to adhere to plans even when field conditions dictate otherwise. As a result, junior and middle ranking officers often have to expose themselves to enemy fire in combat.