In the Army, why is a 2nd Lt. superior to a Sergeant Major?

The lowest of the officer rank O-1 is technically higher than the highest enlisted rank and the highest warrant officer rank. However, a new officer is hardly ever seen as superior. It is just the opposite. A senior NCO is tasked with mentoring the new officer. Even though the officer outranks the nco in terms of rank, a senior nco outranks a new officer in terms of technical knowledge and leadership skill. A wise officer sees this and seeks guidance of his nco's.

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RE:

In the Army, why is a 2nd Lt. superior to a Sergeant Major?

Or in the Navy an Ensign to a Master Chief Petty Officer?

I don't think I would EVER say a 2nd LT is superior to a Sergeant Major. Sergeant Majors are the senior adviser in a unit and report only to the commander. Let an officer (other than the Commander) try to tell the Sergent Major to do something and get ready to see that officer put in his place....fast. Officers come up with the guidance and Non-commissioned officers (sergeants) implement that guidance as well as train new officers.

In rank only. However in reality a 2LT wouldn't dare use his rank to appear "superior" to a Sergeant Major. A sergeant major will of course render all proper military courtesies to the 2LT but the sergeant major is vastly more experienced, educated and trained in leadership. Matter of fact, the days that an officer can claim college education over an NCO are numbered. Soon all Special operations enlisted MOS's will have requirement to have a 2-4 year degree by the time they are promoted to E-7 and a masters by e-8 to e-9 depending on the MOS.

In the British army and I'm sure it's the same in the US a new major will arrive on camp , within 5 mins everyone will know he's either a Ranker or not , I've had the privilege of working under both in the British army but let's be fair who has the men's respect more a guy who has come from private to major or the guy who comes in at 2ndlt? But then what if his dad was col and his grandfather col? We trust the order of command and this is why

Officers are "commissioned" by congress. Non-commissioned officers enlist for a span of years and therefore can be considered to be "under contract" for that period.

That is the basis of the rank structure.

The term "superior" is a poor choice of words. No junior officer is going to consider himself "superior" to a senior NCO. All the young man has is his education and training while the older man has tons of experience and understanding.

Yes, the NCO will salute the 2LT if they meet outside, but the 2LT will probably ask the NCO his advice on how to do the job at hand. The 2LT will decide what will be done, and the NCO will do his best to do it, even if it's wrong, because that's how 2LT's learn from their own mistakes.

But if the mistake would be bad enough be sure the NCO will make him very aware that the idea is not a good one before things get too bad.

NCO's see the care and training of junior officers as an important part of their jobs, and good ones take great pride in seeing "their" lieutenants get promoted and become good officers.

Its only superior on paper. A Sergeant Major commands respect and pulls a lot more weight than a 2nd Lt. Sure a Sergeant Major must salute the 2nd Lieutenant's rank but thats only a formality.

I remember once a 2nd Lieutenant told a CMSGT in the Air Force that he was "above" him and didnt have to listen to him. Well that CMSGT went right into his commanders office and before you know it that 2nd Lt. was doing lower enlisted details for the rest of the week.

A 2nd Lt. is superior in ranking to a Sergeant Major because the Army ranking says it is. A Navy Ensign is superior in ranking to a Master Chief Petty Officer because the Navy says it is.

Technically a 2nd Lt. is higher - simply because of rank structure and training. Morally the 2nd Lt. (a wise one) would have a significant amount of respect for the Sergeant Major due to his extensive experience. A lot of butter bars will just take the "back seat" and listen in the beginning but it will always go back to the fact that they are technically superior.

In some ways, that is true, at least theoretically. The Sergeant Major salutes the Second Lieutenant, not the other way around. And if the Lieutenant gives an order, the Sergeant Major obeys.

But in practice, the Lieutenant would probably listen to what the Sergeant Major has to say before giving him an order, if such a situation ever arises that would make this necessary. Besides, officers who command platoons usually have a Sergeant or Staff Sergeant as their top enlisted man rather than a Sergeant Major. Sergeant Majors are often the top enlisted people for Colonels and Generals.

The idea that a Sergeant Major has more experience than a Second Lieutenant is reflected in the basic pay chart. A Second Lieutenant with 18 years of service makes 4,349.10 (though if he's still at that rank at that point there's something wrong). A Sergeant Major has to have at least 10 years in service to be at that rank, at which point he makes 4,634.70, with raises after every two years of service till 18 years.

Technically, because the LT is an officer and the SGM is enlisted. However, only an idiot butter bar would think he/she outranked an E-9 with 20+ years of service. They also defer to the E-8 MSG/1SG.