I am interested in hearing everyone's opinion in regards to this post as I am currently contemplating my application with CF. The officer's route utilizes my education versus the NCM which would utilize more of my work experience. I have more or less differentiated the two as being, officers take care of the operations on a wider perspective, while NCM's are specialized positions. If one were to compare the CF to a business, officers are more of the executive class, which look after larger organizational issues, while NCM's are the experts in the field and need more technical knowledge. While officers should know what NCM's do in the field on a general level, they could probably never acquire the hands-on skills that NCM's exhibit. Vice-versa, while NCM's need to relay information that is useful for the officers, there is a level of responsibility that transfers up the chain of command as well that an NCM would never have to concern him/herself with. In regards to leadership, everyone has to display a level of leadership if there are subordinates below that position. The level of responsibility is what probably differentiates the two classes the most. I have heard a few members defending NCM positions as being sometimes well educated, of course they can be, but the difference in positions are the levels of responsibility they choose. This does not mean one responsibility is necessarily more important than the other, they are simply different. In a hospital, there is no question about the importance of the surgeon performing an operation on a patient, but can you imagine the effectiveness of a hospital that failed to have a proper staff of administration as well? Supplies, paycheques, quality of the training, quality of the environment would deteriorate very quickly to the point that it may even interfere with the performance of that surgeon.