While their goal may have been to make the IV's more social than the II's and III's, I have yet to understand why they chose to make them seen unprofessional. And Palmer just can't get her shit together. As for Locke, I can imagine he'd know more than the other Spartans in terms of ONI directives and such. But when it comes to combat effectiveness, I don't imagine a huge skill gap between him and say Buck.