# Did Army officers rise up the ranks faster during World War II era? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 26, 2011, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-army-officers-rise-up-the-ranks-faster-during-world-war-ii-era/597607 "2011-09-26T00:51:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2011, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-army-officers-rise-up-the-ranks-faster-during-world-war-ii-era/597607/21 "2011-09-27T09:16:10Z")
One the Union Corps Commanders in 1865, graduated from West Point in 1862. Name was something McKenzie. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2011, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-army-officers-rise-up-the-ranks-faster-during-world-war-ii-era/597607/22 "2011-09-27T13:00:19Z")
Nathan Bedford Forrest enlisted as a private in the Confederate States Army in July 1861, was promoted to lieutenant colonel (!) that October, and was a lieutenant general by Feb. 1865. Gotta be some kind of record. > **[Nathan Bedford Forrest | War record and promotions](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathan_bedford_forrest#War_record_and_promotions)** > > 1.Enlisted as private July 1861. (White's Company "E", Tennessee Mounted Rifles) | > 2.Commissioned as lieutenant colonel, October 1861 (3rd Tennessee Cavalry) | > 3.Promoted to colonel, February 1862 | > 4.Battle of Fort Donelson, February 12–16, 1862 | > 5.Wounded at Battle of Shiloh, April 6–8, 1862 | > 6.Promoted to brigadier general, July 21, 1862 | > 7.First Battle of Murfreesboro, July 1862 | > 8.Raids in Tennessee, Kentucky, and Mississippi, early December 1862 – early January 1863 | > 9.Battle o... ---
**Author:** ![dengin99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/34f0e0/32.png) [@dengin99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dengin99)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2013, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-army-officers-rise-up-the-ranks-faster-during-world-war-ii-era/597607/23 "2013-06-09T00:42:25Z")
In wartime the military has more people in uniform and promotions come faster for qualified people. I was in the Air Force during VietNam and made Staff Sargent in 3 1/2 years. In peactime it would take 5 - 7 years. That is just the way it is. ---
**Author:** ![txtumbleweed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/278dde/32.png) [@txtumbleweed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/txtumbleweed)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2013, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-army-officers-rise-up-the-ranks-faster-during-world-war-ii-era/597607/24 "2013-06-09T08:13:39Z")
Was going to mention Custer’s rapid rise, instead, will offer up a couple points of interest. I remember seeing this Bill Mauldin cartoon in a book about the air war in Europe. [It’s the second image down, our GI Joe, Willy, meets his very young nephew, the USAAF Colonel.](http://www.warwingsart.com/12thAirForce/billmauldin.html) If you scroll down, there’s another cartoon captioned “Ya might hafta catch a boat. One of them kids ya chased off th’ field wuz the pilot.” [Found a casualty table that supports the high rate of loss of USAAF officers vs other branches of the Army.](http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/ref/Casualties/Casualties-2.html#duty) For example: 35,313 male officers were killed in combat from 7 Dec 41 - 31 Dec 46. 21,915 of those officers were branched Air Corps. That’s about 62% of all officer casualties. Infantry had the next highest loss of officers, 8584 officer deaths in combat, about 24% of all losses. The next chart down lists losses by grade. Looking at 112 Colonels killed, if the percentages above hold true, then the USAAF lost about 70 and the infantry lost about 27. It is easy to see that during WWII one could rapidly make field grade positions in the USAAF while the officer slots being opened by combat deaths in the rest of the Army were pretty much at the platoon and company level only. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-army-officers-rise-up-the-ranks-faster-during-world-war-ii-era/597607.md?page=1)