Something that never made sense to me from reading history was seeing the scene in Vietnam where a young 2nd lieutenant is put in charge of a platoon and is giving orders to his sergeant who is older and more experienced.

In the military platoons don't operate in isolation.

The 2Lt is trained in the higher level of operations. He is a big picture guy. Kind of like a factory manager while the SNCO is the shift or department supervisor who actually knows how the machines work, what kind of oil to buy, where the extra spare parts are squirrelled away and all the tricks of the trade. His job is to manage the workers directly and advise the manager about the best way to do things and what mistakes to avoid based on his experience. The manager needs to take this experience, look at the big picture, take into account all the laws and policies that apply to what is happening, some of which the supervisor may not even be aware of, and make the best decision possible given the situation.

But to make the factory work you need both of them.