Enlisted people aren’t stupid and the Navy, IMHO, has maintained a “distance” between Officers and Enlisted the Army gave up on long ago. If Officers seem “aloof” the Enlisted ranks become grudgingly responsive. All one needs to do is “roll up your sleeves” and let your people see that you are setting an example they will have difficulty meeting YOUR standards and they will love you. At least as much as that is ever gonna happen. There will always be that one sneaky bastard.
Morning wasoute.
As a retired military officer, there are profound challenges at work.
As you know, there are both good officers, and bad officers. There are good NCOs, and bad NCOs. There are good Privates, Airmen Basics, and Seaman Recruits, and bad ones.
If some officers are perceived as "aloof", the reason may not always be because they are stuck-up jerks as depicted in Hollywood movies. As a leader, you have to walk a fine line depending upon the circumstances.
The military must function according to discipline and structure. Officers who try too hard to be "one of the guys" can become horribly ineffective, and often hated in the end by the men and women in their command.
The military academies, OTS, and ROTC training that officers receive emphasize (or at least they used to) that an officer who tries to be everyone's "buddy" is not leading, and there are rules of conduct.
On the other hand, a good officer must also be a servant-leader. It is never about "you", but about your command and your men and women. I wish more officers and career military followed that dictum, because not all do.
In my military career, I found that the situation often dictated the strategy of leadership. Sometimes you had to be the hard ass, but other times you had to be the coach, the mentor, or even the friend.
But an officer who wanted to be everyone's friend all the time was never an effective leader, and no one respected him or her.
I had other leadership roles besides actual flying, and those were more "by the book." But flying with a crew (of both officers and enlisted) was different. We were a crew - and we worked, slept, and ate together for weeks at a time. We also looked out for each other during our time off while in countries all over the world, and played cards and had a few drinks together.
We were like a family, and we had to rely on each other constantly.
When decisions had to made, I as the aircraft commander had to make them, and the crew followed my lead. Maintenance, weather, dealing with cargo and passengers, higher headquarters, embassies, etc.
But, that was a more special relationship (being in a flying crew).
To be honest, I found being a leader to be often a hard and lonely role. Rewarding, but lonely.