You can be friends with the management...

There's one unfortunate aspect of military life that I thought I would have shaken when I retired, but alas it was not to be. There are two sets of ranks structures in the military - the Officers and the rest of us. It's been that way forever and it is unlikely to change. What's the difference? Think of the officers as the management - university graduates with (one would hope) the leadership skills needed to organize and motivate troops into battle. The other ranks can be anything from the grunts (infantry) and apprentices (trades) to the foremen (as it were) and the seargent-major. Officers are molded into the belief that they are special and should not socialize with the other ranks. Even if this is not entirely true, it certainly comes across that way to the other ranks. There are many officers (some of whom I know very well) that have been ostracized for socializing with their troops anyway. But us 'other ranks' respect that. A lot.

I have seen a few of my peers get university degrees and join the officer ranks. Some of these people, whom I considered to be my friends at one time, have changed. After their transformation, they have been known to treat the rest of us as strangers, lesser people. That's unfortunate. I am in a career right now where I work with people who used to be (or in some cases - still are) officers. Some I work 'with', some I work 'for' - but in every case they do not pull the rank thing on me and I respect them for that. It's a shame that some people have to shun years of friendship when they become 'in charge'.

I'm just sayin'...........