Why is there such a pronounced difference in how the military treats officers vs enlisted people? This even extends to how they are treated when a POW, as seen in Bridge Over River Kwai.

Question

I *completely* understand that there needs to be a hierarchy, but there seems to be a big discontinuity between these different classifications. When I was in the Navy, I noticed this extended to eating accommodations, and even how ships were built (different hallways for enlisted and officers to walk down). This may have made sense “back in the day”, but why does this separation continue to exist today?

In: 222

Answer 1

In the Vietnam war, a soldier in the north would get a break, squat with a plate of fish, bowl of rice, and cup of tea. Beside him, also squatting with fish, rice, and tea, could be a general.

The US lost that war to farmers who proved to be better soldiers, and officers, than the US. Despite the many force multipliers and huge wealth the US had, the Vietnamese were not saddled with a caste system, or its extensive costs.

The Russian military has a caste system like the US, and similar costs. I suspect that early last February every unit at every level in every branch reported 100% readiness, even if their readiness was zero. The caste system bottlenecks the flow of information upwards and downwards.

I once got to view the USMC on their parade ground, where the privates kissed the corporal’s ass, the corporals kissed the sergeant’s ass, and on and on to the colonels kissing the general’s ass, and the general kissing the wife’s ass.