Is an "Spc." an "officer"? I thought it was an elisted ranking? Somebody help me out on this. Thanks.
That's what I thought too.
Spc= Specialist, and would be enlisted personnel
It is--Specialst is an E4. Typical press doesn't have a clue about things military and shows their stupidity to the world.
Spc is an abbreviation for Army enlisted, grade 4 (E-4) personnel; they are called Corporals (Cpl) in combat arms units.
As several people have mentioned Spc is E-4 (Enlisted rank #4). It is typical to get E-4 rank after 3-4 years in service, although you could get it sooner.
E-5 is the first Non-Commissioned Officer (NCO) rank, so an SPC is not even a sergeant much less an officer. Most people enlist after high school, but a 35 year old Spc just means he enlisted when he was 30-32.
What's interesting is that PFC England blamed her dilemna on her superiors. PFC is E-3 and it is quite possible that her immediate superior was an E-4. Although the military prefers to have NCOs in charge, there are times when E-4s are in charge of E-3s.
Either the press screwed up and called an SPC an officer, or the person was an officer and the press screwed up by calling him an SPC.
You don't suppose the use of the word officer had to do with the slant that higher ups were involved and that it was not simply a careless mistake?