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Lt. Grose,
I just visited your site, and had a couple of questions
for you (that you didn't already cover). Since you have
both served as an enlisted man and an officer, I wanted to know
what the difference in lifestyle is like. Is being an
officer like, in the civilian world, being upper management,
or what? Are officers more regimented, are there more
rules to follow? And last, how is the pay and benefits?
Decent? I'm asking because I'm going to graduate from my university
here in Florida in less than two years, and have given the Marines
a serious look. They seem to be the only branch who will
recruit college grads (The local Army Recruiter actually tried
to get me to quit school, in my Junior year). Thanks for
your help,
Marshall Hood
Thanks for writing and since you asked, I will cover your
questions as best I can. What is the difference between being
enlisted and being an officer?
It is a lot more cerebral and less physical at times. I
mean as an enlisted man, I was told what to do and had to basically
follow the directions of others and answer to them. I was working
for my superiors and job satisfaction came by completing assigned
tasks.
As an officer, I work for my juniors. Yes, I still get guidance
from above but basically, and I find this a constant source
of amazement, I decide what will happen every single day. I
make the calls and dole out both praise and punishment. At first,
this was a strange situation since I was on the other side for
so long. But now that a little time has passed and the novelty
of the situation has worn off, I can concentrate on making things
better for my Marines and my unit while honing my leadership
skills. My bottom line when I deal with my Marines is to constantly
ask myself: “How would I have wanted to be treated when I was
wearing their boots?”
Now things always look greener on the other side and the
enlisted side sees these things:
An officer is treated with a lot of respect.
An officer is never questioned by a junior
An officer gets more money to do less physical activities
An officer lives in better housing, wears better clothes, and
eats better food
An officer can get out of a lot more required events
An officer never has to wait in line
An officer gets waited on first wherever he goes no matter how
many enlisted are waiting
I will admit that these things are true and they are nice
perks but there is also another side to it:
An officer always has to make the big decision and answer
for it
An officer is expected never to make a mistake
An officer is expected to have more stamina, courage, intelligence,
and motivation
An officer must be a mentor, tutor, counselor, symbol of excellence,
father-figure, moral pillar, psychologist, intellectual, tactician,
motivator, judge, jury, executioner, praiser, awarder, protocol
expert, teacher, scholar, philosopher, historian, and perfectionist.
An officer must always be able to answer the question, “What
do we do now, Sir?”
That might sound like a good deal but the pressure and consistency
of the expectations is enormous!
Another justification for the royal treatment mentioned
above, as it was explained to me in a great book called The
Armed Forces Officer, is that an officer’s time is more important
that an enlisted man’s. This might seem a little highbrow but
the logic goes that if a troop is stuck in a line for an hour,
you have lost a worker for that time period. If an officer has
to wait, you have lost the driving force behind all of the workers.
With a ratio of 1 to 10 (officers to enlisted), you can see
why it is important for an officer to quickly get through a
line so that he can get back to the more important task at hand...leading
the troops.
I think that the best summation of what is expected of an
officer also comes from the Armed Forces Officer when it explains
the inflated paycheck over the enlisted rates. It says that
the reason for the extra money is not because we are that much
better than the enlisted men but because they want to give us
enough money so that we can live comfortably and not have to
worry about finances. That way we can devote that much more
of our mental effort to the Corps rather than having to worry
about how we are going to pay our bills. With such a small officer
corps and due to the importance they place on the officers,
they can accomplish this. By the way, I got a 73% raise the
day I was commissioned. But I will also add that I get direct
deposit and therefore do not see the money. After setting up
an account for my childrens’ future, the rest of the money is
not mine. It belongs to my family. My paycheck is my work and
to tell you the truth, I rarely think about the amount of money
I make. My wife takes care of the bills and I am content to
get $5 a week for a haircut and the Sunday paper. If you are
in it for the money, keep looking.
I feel that I work twice as hard as an officer as I did
as a sergeant. I also get twice the satisfaction and the difference
is because I wake up every day not to satisfy a senior but to
accomplish a mission while making life better for those under
me. It is the difference between the being mindful of the ramifications
of screwing up (answering to my senior enlisted Marines, some
of which could get quite nasty) and answering to myself (who
can get even nastier as a result of a mistake). I put pressure
on myself and that self-motivation is so much stronger than
the fear factor from before. I subscribe to the motto “Forgive
everything of others but nothing of yourself.”
Lastly, to answer your “regiment” question, I have to be
honest. This depends on the person. Officers are expected to
be more spit-and-polish that the average Marine but are rarely
corrected if this is not the case. After all, they are officers,
or as the belief goes. So it is up to that internal motivation/expectation
that I described above. Personally, I feel a large weight on
my shoulders to uphold that expectation but I have seen too
many that have not...and get away with it. For this, I use my
saying: “I cannot change the entire Marine Corps but I can change
the little corner of it that they give me.” Leading by example
can be a powerful method.
Officers are not known for close order drill because that
has always been an enlisted area. Because the officers are not
forced to adhere to the standards they are supposed to embody,
laziness sometimes sets in and a few slip by and bump along.
This is unfortunate and eventually, they are either forced out
or just fulfill their destiny to jump ship at the first opportunity.
Either way, you end up with a pretty good crowd at the end that
only have to fight the urge to slacken as their ever-increasing
rank shields them more and more from scrutiny. By then, it is
even more important to have internalized the standards because
no one, and I mean no one, will ever hold their feet to the
fire unless it gets way out of hand. It is true that absolute
power corrupts absolutely but with effort, a good Marine officer
will stay humble and remember what he represents.
I hope I have answered your questions. I enjoy sharing my
beliefs and hope that all of this was not more than what you
asked for. It is just a bit difficult to taper down an answer
to a question that covers such a broad spectrum.
-- Lt Grose
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