Marine officers & vets: how old is a gunnery sergeant likely to be?

[A.R.Cane]

@saoirse

Now I’m confused. Everyone I know who was a young adult in the 50s was drafted. They served two years, and then got back to their lives. It was something that everyone was supposed to go through, although some people used deferments to duck it.

That’s my recollection of it. I think there was very little, if any, draft between about '54 and '65. That point isn’t terribly important to the OP’s scenario, but it would be unlikely, although not impossible, that the character would have not been in during the Korean war, if he were born in '28, or that he would have been allowed to enlist, for the first time, in the mid '60’s when he would be in his mid thirty’s.

[Loach]

@Spectre of Pithecanthropus

I knew that commissioned officers in the armed forces were subject to “up or out” rules, but I didn’t know this was also the case with NCOs.

I could see why this might be the case in some situations. For instance, the Navy wouldn’t want to have a 58-year-old ensign who never made jg, and the Marines would not want to keep around a middle-aged corporal who never managed to rise any higher. But for seasoned officers and noncoms who have reached reasonable levels–say a serjeant major in the case of noncoms, or a major in the case of officers, why would the military want to drop you if you want to stay in? Seasoned personnel don’t grow on trees.

The assumption is if you can’t get promoted you are a dud. That is not always a valid assumption. Someone who is a great squad leader may not make a great platoon sergeant or first sergeant. There are different skill sets for each position. It has always been the military way to promote to the level of your own incompetence. If you want a good account of this procedure read David Hackworth’s autobiography About Face.

The other more valid point is that if you keep in more crusty old NCOs it adversly affects the young motivated troops that are below them. There won’t be slots for them to get promoted. That is especially true in the Corps which is much smaller than the Army. See what the military was like before WWII when you could easily retire after 20 years as a corporal.

[A.R.Cane]

@Spectre of Pithecanthropus

I knew that commissioned officers in the armed forces were subject to “up or out” rules, but I didn’t know this was also the case with NCOs.

I could see why this might be the case in some situations. For instance, the Navy wouldn’t want to have a 58-year-old ensign who never made jg, and the Marines would not want to keep around a middle-aged corporal who never managed to rise any higher. But for seasoned officers and noncoms who have reached reasonable levels–say a serjeant major in the case of noncoms, or a major in the case of officers, why would the military want to drop you if you want to stay in? Seasoned personnel don’t grow on trees.

The 'up or out" regs. came in the 70’s. Prior to that it wasn’t particularly unusual to see an E-4 or E-5 w/ 16, 18, 20 years service. Even in the officer corps. things were a lot more lax.

[Quartz]

@Loach

The other more valid point is that if you keep in more crusty old NCOs it adversly affects the young motivated troops that are below them. There won’t be slots for them to get promoted. That is especially true in the Corps which is much smaller than the Army. See what the military was like before WWII when you could easily retire after 20 years as a corporal.

A colleague of mine left the RAF for much this reason.

[JRDelirious]

@Skald the Rhymer

Well, he’s dead throughout the story, so it may not be THAT important. From what I’ve read in Cerberus’ links and everybody’s posts, it seems that I could solve all issues of credibility just by subtracting 10 years off his age. That way he’d have been a thirty-year-old staff sergeant at Khe Sanh–sufficient rank be the ranking noncom for his platoon, no?–and a 41-year-old Gunny when he retired.

Indeed so, that would be a very good fit – and he does a relatively long tour as GYSGT and “retires” to reserves rather than obligate himself to more service by going for the by-now due promotion.

[Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus]

@A.R. Cane

The 'up or out" regs. came in the 70’s. Prior to that it wasn’t particularly unusual to see an E-4 or E-5 w/ 16, 18, 20 years service. Even in the officer corps. things were a lot more lax.

In the case of the officer corps, my sources indicate that even in 1960 they had an unofficial up or out expectation. The way it was explained was that under certain circumstances an officer is considered to be “in the zone” for potential advancement. If this happens three times without a promotion, then the officer was expected to resign.