No, good officers can rise above bad NCOs, just as good NCOs rise above bad officers to take care of soldiers and accomplish the mission.

Usually you have a mix, but so long as everyone is listening to each other, and allowing people to do their job all the way up to where they clearly demonstrate that they are either unable or unwilling to do so, it usually all works out. If this were easy, anyone could do it.

One huge advantage our JOs have today, is that the nature of the conflict we are in is not either killing off or running off the pool of talented, experienced NCOs. Most officers seem to forget that while they were at PLT level for 12-18 months, their soldiers are there for 12-18 years.

My ex brother-in-law joined the Army in the late 60s, and the top prospects from his class of basic trainees were drawn off and sent to 3 different shake and bake courses. One group to be instant 2LTs, one group to be instant squad leaders, and one group to be instant drill sergeants. He's still alive today, so yeah, he drew the drill sergeant gig. The fact that we can arm our JOs with NCOs who have a wealth of exerience today gives them a tremendous advantage over what JOs encountered when they got off the helicopter at some firebase to meet their platoon back then.

Regardless of how the Irregular War vs conventional war theorists sort out, one thing we can rest easy knowing is that we will have a military filled with officers and NCOs alike with more experience than we've seen in a long time. Future fights will offer new challenges, but character, dedication and leadership will apply in every case, and those who stay will possess all three in spades, (and the National Guard will posssess even more experience, both from their own deployments, and from the regulars who have joined their ranks).