I’m sure that is true. I’m not military and the person who asked the question obviously wasn’t military.
I thought it was an interesting question.
I know that unofficial rules also play a role. Are you going to trust to command you a fresh from the academy lieutenant or you going to trust the hard-nosed sergeant with your life and the chips are down?
Do you really think everything is so casual in the military that rank isn’t rigid?
When I was an E-8 and the flight Superintendent I had a Second Lt., fresh out of the Air Force Academy as the OIC. He wanted to be a pilot but had to wait for a slot. So they made him a Comms officer. I had an office with a door, he had a cubicle.
Every morning he’d knock on my door and ask me what we were going to do for that day—meetings, etc. I’d tell him and like a puppy, he’d reappear at the appropriate time clutching his flight cap and asking if was time to go.
I would walk on his left side so he felt like he was in charge (and that’s military protocol, allowing him freedom to salute or return salutes). He’d sit next to me in meetings and whisper questions like, “Is that true?” or “What should I say?” I told him what to say and he’d say it like a good El Tee.
Actually, after a year I retired and he did a good job. It was a great experience watching him mature. When he made Captain, he asked me to come back on base and pin his shoulder boards on at his promotion ceremony. I heard he finally got a flying spot, flying C-17s. WTG, Capt. Dee!
“Are you going to trust to command you a fresh from the academy lieutenant or you going to trust the hard-nosed sergeant with your life and the chips are down?”
The “a-fresh-from-the-academy lieutenant” while he is in charge, is going to place a lot of faith in the “hard-nosed sergeant’s” leading instincts. That, to me, is simply common sense.