Quote:
|
Originally Posted by irateplatypus
i've been through similar training jumpinjesus... though my perspective is that of an officer. not having been trained as an enlisted man, my experience could have been different.
my training to be an AF officer clearly puts a premium on groupaction but doesn't even seem to address groupthink.
perhaps if i were an infantry soldier it might be different?
|
I only made it up to E-4 sgt (Air Force) before I got out. That was when they had E-4 sgts.
Groupthink may have been the wrong term to use on my part. However, enlisted people were definitely were not looked upon highly when we attempted individual thought. Socially we could be as individual as the military allowed.
I remember being a 22 year old E-4 sgt, back when the Air Force still had E-4 sgts. Our flight commander was a 23 year old 0-1. Socially we were similar, but militarily we were worlds apart. I could always sense his discomfort when inspecting a 35 year old E-6 who had been in 15 years. Yet, because of his rank and training, he was in command of the veteran enlisted people, and while the sgts would sometimes rib him behind his back, we never questioned his orders or his behaviors because that was how we were trained.
Basically, in the lower enlisted ranks, any sign of brass caused us to instinctively snap to attention and suddenly become more aware of our appearance and actions. We were trained to hold the officer class in a much higher regard than other enlisted.