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

The Navy is way extra on the separation of Officer and Enlisted more than any other branch. The Army for example is way more relaxed when it comes to that. We may not hang out together on the weekends but it’s pretty normal to eat, train, and work around your Commander. If you’ve got a high speed one anyway.