specialist? - Page 2

f50lrrp · 05-21-2008, 08:34

And I would have to respectfully agree with the T.S.! SP4 is the common E-4 rank that today is Specialist. There has been no terminology change other than to take away the term "4".

SP-5 in an infantry unit was reserved for the Company Senior Aid Man and some rear eschelon radio and supply personnel. Specialist 6 and above didn't operate in combat.

swpa19 · 05-21-2008, 09:52

Again, my disagreement was with the broad statement that specialist carried with it a non-combatant role. A good example of this not being the case was John J. Kedenberg (CCN). Now, whether he was a medic or not, I cant say for sure. But, he was a spec. 5, and did exhibit leadership qualities.

**The Reaper** · 05-21-2008, 10:05

Back in the day, the 82nd was full of SP4 11Bs, as was every other Division in the Army.

TR

f50lrrp · 05-21-2008, 17:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Reaper

Back in the day, the 82nd was full of SP4 11Bs, as was every other Division in the Army.

TR

You're right! SP4 was a glorified private. If you were a corporal (E-4) you were an NCO. If you were a SP-4 (E-4) you pulled KP and guard duty with the privates and PFCs.

emoore · 01-16-2009, 17:29

Quote:

Originally Posted by f50lrrp

If you really wanted to see a cluster, add in another service. The relationship between specialist and NCO only pertained to the Army.

Imagine an Army Corporal, a Marine E-5 and an Army Spec-6. The Marine E-5 out-ranked the Army Corporal. The Army Corporal had command authority over the Spec-6. The Army Spec-6 out ranked the Marine Sergeant...

Old thread I know – I was a Spec 5 when I got out and in theory a corporal supposedly could take charge or tell a Spec 5 or 6 what to do but you didn’t see it happen. I’m out of date with today’s Army and I’ve been told you have clerks that are corporals but during my time you only seen corporal’s in a combat MOS and the Spec 5’s and Spec 6’s were in support and were what I would call low level managers in an office or were in a technical field.

CMOIIIOPS · 01-21-2009, 22:16

I was going to let this pass but found this interesting history. I was a Specialist 7 having gone from E4 to E7 as a specialist. As the result of a reclassification action that I requested I was lateraled to SFC. Was promoted to MSG at which grade I retired. The last 3 or 4 years I was in SGM positions on division staff.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Specialist_(rank))

RJD

PSM · 01-21-2009, 23:31

Deleted information best not shared. (My above post was incorrect...we had SPC/7s not 8s. Three rockers over the bird are E-7 not E-8.

)

Pat