The army was divided into officers and enlisted, and both were integral to the functioning of the military. The ultimate difference between them was that the officers were put into decision making positions, while the enlisted took care of the actual operations of the army itself.
That did not mean, however, that the officers never saw action, or that the enlisted never had command. Corporals, for example, were enlisted who led small teams of soldiers for specific tasks. The outline of their task was clearly defined, and merely had to focus on completing their task, without concern for other matters. How best to complete that task was up to the Corporal to decide.
