Rank is not a sin.

There has been some big controversy over a Ft. Lewis social group (unsanctioned) that is online. It is called "Ft. Lewis NCO Wives". People have gotten very ugly about this. They've said that the creators of it could get in massive trouble, that they're violating operational security by stating that their husbands are NCO's, and just kind of engaging in a big nasty witch hunt. It all started off with one girl stating that it was an example of rank wearing.

First of all, I'm so sick of this rank wearing thing. Everyone in the military has a rank. It dictates nearly everything about their life, from their duties at work, to their pay, to the way they interact with those around them. It follows rather simply, that it would have some influence on their family also. To acknowledge that your husband has a rank, and what type of rank it is, does not constitute rank wearing. Treating other people like crap because of what their husband's rank is in relation to your husband's, would be rank wearing. Nobody is doing that in this instance. Some women just formed a social club for their peers. What a crime.

Let's also be clear that they would most certainly not get their husbands in trouble for creating said social club. In fact, if they filled out the proper paperwork, and got it sanctioned, they would probably get an award for setting something like that up for the good of the post! NCO Wives' Clubs are an old tradition of the Army, which had gone away for a while, but they're coming back into fashion in a big way. There are many NCO Wives' Clubs all over the Army as of this year, and most of them have websites, social network pages, and things of that nature. It's definitely not something anyone would get their husband in trouble for being a part of.

What's more, the Officers' wives have their club, which never went out of style, has been a fixture at every post for as long as there's been an Army, and probably always will be, but nobody bats an eye at that. NCO wives get the same thing and it's all of a sudden rank wearing and a violation of national security policy? Give me a break!

Yes, I am a member of the NCO Wives' Club. No, I do not treat people like garbage because of my husband's rank, therefore, I am not engaging in rank wearing. I am, however, engaging in socializing with peers, who actually know what the hell I'm talking about half the time.

Rank is not a sin. Social clubs are not a sin. Please, report this to some Colonel. It would probably give him the best laugh he'd had all week.

(For the record, we have voted on multiple occasions on whether to open our membership to wives of lower-enlisted soldiers. The group consensus is no, and the main reason is because there was little interest from them, in socializing with the wives of their husbands' superiors. It's not like we're barring the doors while people are banging at them to get in. Nobody is trying to get in, who isn't already allowed. We're really not cold, heartless, and elitist at all.)