FYSA, PA is now a whole different officer trade now. Sgt Med tech can apply and will receive the 3 years training in Borden, but you could also VOT into the trade.

As for NCOs becoming officers, I’ll give you my 2cents since I’ve been both PRes NCO and RegF officer. Getting a university degree proves only one thing; that you have the skillset necessary to get a university degree. But that skillset is shared with the kind of work we do as officer. Complex paperwork and admin, interpreting conflicting/vague policies, long term planning, abstract thinking. CFR sets up some people for failure, simply because being a good NCO does not automatically makes you a good officer, for the same reason that being a good officer would certainly not make you a good NCM. That being said, some of the best officers I’ve worked with came from the ranks, simply because they get it.

As for the combat engineer example, being a Hvy Eqpmt troop WO won’t make you a good officer, simply because there is a training and a skillset required that is extremely different. Sure, you know everything there is to know about heavy equipment. But you have no idea about the engineering behind the task. This is why you need both an officer and a SNCO (aka a command team). Your example is also pretty bad. It would be stupid to send your chemical engineer to the Hvy Eqpmt section. The CO probably has a variety of officers with civil engineering background that would be assets to the heavy equipment section. Your chemical engineer could be much more useful if he was in charge of, say, the ROWPU section.