From: TJ@noneofyour.business   
      
   On 07/08/2012 08:49 AM, Jim Beard wrote:   
   > On 07/08/2012 04:01 AM, Adam wrote:   
   >   
   >> I don't know much about military life, but I gather losing a   
   >> stripe is even worse than getting another one is good -- it's not   
   >> just a demotion, but visible to everyone.   
   >   
   > Yep.  A big black blot on the record.  Permanent variety.  This guy   
   > f*cked up big time.  That imperils prospects for promotion throughout   
   > your military career.   
   >   
   > There is the (very) rare case where the guy does something incredibly   
   > great that just happens to be totally illegal or something.  (Direct   
   > disobedience of an order of insane variety from on high, for example.)   
   > That can create reputation that outweighs the blot on the record, but I   
   > cannot think of an instance where that actually helped a career.  One or   
   > two where the net effect was neutral.   
   >   
   > The Navy and Marines are alleged to have some careerists who bounce   
   > around in the lowest three or maybe four rates/ranks, up and down   
   > depending on how long it has been since they went on liberty and got   
   > soused or something.  The Army tends to get rid of such at the end of   
   > their first hitch, and I don't think the Air Force tolerates them at all.   
   >   
   >> I do know of one USAF grunt who managed to flip over a general's   
   >> plane.   
   >   
   > There was no attempt made to collect the cost of the plane out of his pay?   
   >   
   > Cheers!   
   >   
   > jim b.   
   >   
   My father was military police, part of the occupation force in the   
   Philippines following WW2. As the story was told to me, he rose to the   
   rank of sergeant. He was on guard duty something like the second day of   
   that rank, and he made the mistake of giving the post commander a hard   
   time about entering - something about ID I believe, but I'm not sure. I   
   wasn't there, and these stories tend to change with each telling.   
      
   As he was leaving after being cleared, the very annoyed post commander   
   said to him, "Sergeant, you'll be a Private in the morning." (That part   
   of the story never changed, so I think it's accurate.) And he was.   
      
   He managed to make it back to corporal before leaving the service some   
   months later, but that was it.   
      
   TJ   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)