When someone wants to join the Armed forces, the first thing that comes to their mind is the path that is the best for them. They have to distinguish between several service members. Although all of them serve the nation, it is perilous to choose a career path without being sure about it. Among all the Army services, people face most of the difficulty while choosing between Enlisted and Officer. These two cadres of Armed forces both dedicate their lives to the nation, but they vary in a plethora of ways professionally. Also, the selection process depends on the personal, professional, and enlightenment goals. In this brief, we are going to lay down ten significant differences between Enlisted and Officer so that you can easily decipher and distinguish between them:
So What is the Difference between Enlisted and Officer?
1. Enlisted focuses on mission completion while officers are in charge of the management
Enlisted are counted as the most important part of the Army as they give orders and focus on completing missions. They are the support system of the Army. Whereas Officers look after planning the mission, giving orders, and assigning tasks to soldiers. They perform management-related roles.
2. Officer requires more advanced academic qualification
Enlisted and Officers have a noticeable difference in Preliminary Qualification. To become an Officer, the high school diploma, passing ASVAB, and a 4-year college degree are necessary. And to become as Enlisted, the high school diploma, GED, and passing ASVAB are necessary.
3. Officers are involved in in-depth training than enlisted
The Officers have to undertake more intensive, extensive, and competitive training as compared to Enlisted. To prepare them for performing better roles and taking charge of everything.
4. Officers assign and supervise other Army personnel while enlisted are the supervised
Officers generally have the accountability to assign a task to army personnel and checking whether they are performing their duties or not. And Enlisted are the ones who are assigned with the work and focus on completing the task rather than supervising it. They can choose their career paths from combat support, law enforcement, media, and healthcare.
5. Officers have higher remuneration than enlisted
As Officers are more qualified than Enlisted, they earn more than them. Also, Officers have superior duties to perform that an Enlisted can’t. On the other hand, they have more burden of accountability.
6. Enlisted work on a contractual term while officers work on full-time employment
The Enlisted have to sign a contract with the Military, and they have to serve the nation till the contract ends. Whereas Officer has a stable job, and they continue working till their retirement.
7. Officers are Leaders while enlisted are the followers
Officers are required to have leadership skills to create energy and morale within the team. On the other hand, the Enlisted are required to be a good follower and complete their duty.
8. Officers have a more stable job while enlisted do not
Officers usually can last for a longer time in the same location. Whereas, Enlisted have to worry about changing the job as they might be placed to some other location, depending on their skills.
9. Officers accrue more respect than enlisted
It is believed that Officers get more respect than Enlisted. But in reality, you can’t get respect without earning it. As officers are on a higher level than Enlisted, they are required to perform their work on time to earn the honour.
10. Officers grow more quickly in the profession
Both Officers and Enlisted gets growth opportunities, but officers can take more benefits from it because they can show their skills while working in the same location. Enlisting in the process of enrolling as a soldier by taking an oath. In a capsule form, we can say that the enlisted soldiers are the mainstay of the force. Whereas officers are the superiors, who control and manage the enlisted pioneers in shaping them to become officers. Officers do the managerial roles by assigning various tasks, giving orders, planning missions, etc. to the enlisted persons. To accomplish the missions and tasks assigned by the officers, it is very Hercules and a very competitive task; hence a few percentages of the enlisted usually go through to become the real soldiers.