I like what your saying, although i think if you do it when your a lower rank you tend to get more experience in commanding positions, and learn through mistakes on what your doing. I am only E-3 and have had OIC loads of times now, and even though im low rank i don't make many mistakes with it anymore, whereas if a E-5 did it for the first time once he got that rank and screwed up, it looks a lot worse and is probably more embarrassing. Also with SOG your contantly having to get approval from the OIC to do anything, so if they are OIC and gone AFK, your kind of screwed. So i think being OIC at a lower rank, although it may land you in rough spots, is a great way of earning command experience for when you reach higher ranks, rather than getting high up and screwing up with OIC, which looks worse as higher ranks are seen as role models.