I have also often wondered if it might not be a good idea to bring back the old specialist ranks. That system was already gone when I came on active duty in '91 but we did still refer to Specialists as Spec 4s and a lot of the NCOs still remembered the old system. The argument that I have always heard against bringing it back goes something like "Everybody needs to be a leader at that point in their careers." Apparently the idea is that we pretend that everybody who makes SGT and above is cut out to be a leader and everything will be OK.

SFC W