Quote Originally Posted by Ulenspiegel View Post
The people who could choose their leaders must have an good idea what their future leader has to do, therefore, they need to now the trade themselves. How do you create in an western army this knowledge among the enlisted men who have to choose their NCOs or company officers?
It's not about choosing in emergencies, but about following who takes the lead.

Sometime around 1906 (IIRC - memory is tricky) the German army (or Prussian - at that time the institution was divided) decided that their Gefreiter (an experienced enlisted man) had to be proficient enough to take over the job of a NCO.
This did fit well to one of the requirements for Auftragstaktik (or how that was called at that time); you need to be told and able to understand the mission of your superior (and possibly his superior) - and that requires that you are proficient enough for assuming your direct superior's slot.
This served well when leader losses (in part because of leading by example / up front) became quite excessive in WW2.

It's really been done for a century already.