I'd rather they removed the free officers (you can still buy them separately) and reduced/removed the side teching instead. Half the time the LT and Cpt make your army feel bloated with units that don't really contribute that much in the grand scheme.
Major is the only officer I use regularly and rebuild instantly when they die.
Or make it so that you can upgrade a rifle squad with a LT/Cpt for a vet bonus etc. So you have a more valuable unit rather than a forcing a blob on the player.
It’s not really that Officers aren’t just as good as Riflemen, it’s that you probably already have three Riflemen in your starting build which makes getting more than one officer one too many and definitely makes getting any special call in infantry too many infantry unless you lose a squad or two (never a good thing).
Plus no one likes to play against a blob either. Especially not a blob that can upgrade with BARs that can de-crew an HMG from the front.
Diverse units are locked behind Officer tech, so you’re forced to start with Riflemen and then also get Officers on top of that. This doesn’t force you to blob them all together, but it does force you to have a lot of infantry squads and that can lead to blobbing very easily and gets even more likely the more squads you have. This makes USF probably the most likely to end up with a blob if you have a composition of 1 RE, 3 Riflemen, Lieutenant, Captain and Major. Throw in a squad of Rangers or Paratroopers and a tank and you’re almost at Pop Cap and all you have is basic infantry squads and a tank. That’s just not good faction design for a game that’s supposed to be about integrating team weapons and combined arms play.