Why is the rank "Second Lieutenant" not popular in the Army or Marines?Because they’re inexperienced and irresponsible assholes.

Why is the rank "Second Lieutenant" not popular in the Army or Marines?Because they’re inexperienced and irresponsible assholes.

American gunners of B Bty, 6 Bn, 27 Artillery fire a M-110 8 inch howitzer during a fire support mission at Landing Zone Hong approx 12 km north east of Song Be, South Vietnam, 26 March 1970.

2LT is the first officer rank, meaning they’re the equivalent of a Private. They don’t know what they’re doing. They’re usually bad leaders, and narcissists who think they’re massively important just because their pay-grade begins with an O.

I’m not saying officers are bad, they definitely aren’t. 97% of them are actually good leaders who care about the men under their command, and live by the military ethics and values. Any commissioned officers seeing this, I am not speaking about you, or trying to tarnish reputations.

I’m just saying it how it is. Lots of people romanticize military service, especially during wartime. They don’t want to hear the real side of things. They don’t even know what an E-4 is. Civilians, especially teenagers, either glamorize it, or demonize it. Neither interpretation is correct.

People don’t want to hear about these things, because it goes against their worldview and general beliefs. But it is the truth, the US military is corrupt and indecent at times, both to others, and to its own members.

If you’re a teenager reading this and aspiring to go into the military, let there be known that there will be a time where you hate all of your superiors and most of your squad-mates. That’s normal, especially when operating under such dreadful conditions as is typical in the military.

2LT’s get such a bad rap because they don’t know what they’re doing. Just like privates get such a bad rap, because neither have real life-experience, and usually think they’re much more important and strong than they really are.

You honestly can’t blame them, though. I was the same way when I finished boot camp. When you’ve finally completed something that took two months or more of hard work, that you (quite literally) poured sweat, blood and tears into, when you get the knowledge that you are part of the 1%, it’s expected to feel “high” on that sense of accomplishment for a few months.

Throughout the course of my military service, I felt a lot of different emotions: excitement, frustration, fear, exhaustion, embarrassment, grief, guilt, depressed, awed, and more. But the best feeling was pride. The best feeling was the one of achievement and accomplishment.

TL;DR: 2Lt’s and privates are equally hated because both are inexperienced and often irresponsible.