Remember, the officer corps was originally exclusively for gentlemen, and gentlemen who wanted to command were put in place by the Crown, or bought their commissions on the open market. That's part of why to this day there are such bizarre little games about "non-commissioned officers", even a Senior Enlisted Advisor to the Chairman (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senior_Enlisted_Advisor_to_the_Chairman), being outranked by the wettest little newly-minted second looie. Theoretically, C.M.Sgt. Experience is a peasant and 2nd Lt. Noob is an aristo.