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

Historically, officers were aristocrats and enlisted were commoners, so logically each was treated the same inside the military as they were in general society.

Militaries haven’t changed with the times because they’re probably the most conservative organizations around, with a huge emphasis on following traditions.