Posted on Aug 31, 2018
Why is it so rare to see the rank of Corporal in the Army?
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Why is it so rare to see the rank of corporal in the army? In my interactions with the army I almost exclusively saw specialist. When I would see two stripes on a soldier I had to do a double take. What's the reason?
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Corporal
Corporal
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 7
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The Army, generally only issues CPL. when a very high speed specialist exhibits the attributes of an NCO and the unit is short Sgt’s. Thank you for your service.
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Its not that rare at all at Fort Hood. I see them all over the place.
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Corporal rank isn't part of an Army MTOE and is only used for very specific reasons. Reason being is if a unit latteral promotes (not really a promotion, but that's the best way to explain it) a SPC to a CPL they have to be filling a position of an E5 or above. The drawback to that is two-fold, that position is now being reported as filled at the higher rank and the individual is still filling one of the allocated SPC positions given to a unit from HRC. All of that is fine if the unit is cool with it, but most aren't and that in a nutshell is why you don't see it very much.
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Cpl Ryan McGrath
I think I understand. Just weird to me. In the Marines when you're promoted to corporal you don't have to have a Billet. Sometimes you are thrust into one, but that is not the reason why you attained the rank.
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