That’s pretty much it, yes.
Ok, I’m waiting. When am I going to find out? Is this Top Secret information that you can’t reveal?
(What_Exit surely knows this stuff but for everyone else…)
They were called Mustangs and usually well respected because they had been ordinary guys like the rest of us.
The secret to identifying a “Mustang” was to look at their ribbon bars for a single plain maroon ribbon. That was the Good Conduct medal, awarded to enlisted men for four years of keeping out of trouble. Since officers are gentlemen, they don’t need to be rewarded for doing what is already expected of them, so there is no way for them to earn a Good Conduct medal.
So if you see that maroon ribbon on a Navy officer, you know they earned it as an enlisted man and came up through the ranks.
That was a trick I don’t think I ever knew. I was shit when it came to reading ribbons. Even figuring my few out would take checking my DD214.
Also, I didn’t remember the term mustang, but I agree, most of them were superior officers, especially to the NROTC kids, as a group, the worst. But I did have a Warrant Officer who was the 2nd biggest dick I ever worked for in my life. What an ass. The Annapolis Officers seemed to be OK overall. Nothing strong stands out.
I was friends with a couple of junior officers in the crypto community, one of whom got his commission via the LDO (limited duty officer) program. He told me that non-academy graduates called them Ring-knockers. If there was a dispute between 2 officers of equal rank but one of them was a USNA grad he would knock his ring on the table, thus ending the argument.
As for Mustangs, I know 2 guys I went to boot camp with who just last year retired as Captains (O-6 for the non-Navy types). They both got their commissions through the Seaman to Admiral program. As far as I know there has only ever been one SEAL Mustang to make O-7.
“Ring knocker” is standard slang for academy grads in both US Army & USAF too. Not so much that anyone would defer to them in an argument, but that they loved to wave their assumed superiority under everyone else’s nose. Superiority whose emblem was their ring.
Which was generally not well-received.
Perhaps in the knocker’s mind. More likely, they just got laughed at for being a massive tool.
Yeah that’s not a thing anywhere. They wear the ring in hopes of getting preferential treatment by other alumni but no one of equal rank is going to defer just because they went to an academy.
On active duty the chillest academy grad I worked with would always say he graduated from “A small school in upstate New York” when asked where he went to college. Unsurprisingly he wasn’t looking to make a career out of it and went private sector as soon as he was able.
I’m sure you’re right and I was just making it all up. What do I know? - I’m just a former enlisted puke.
I’m sure you were told that. I’m also sure that absolutely no one has knocked their ring on the table and won an argument that way.
Spoken like a Ring knocker.
The point was to illustrate the origin of the term, as it was explained to me, for those unfamiliar with it.
And given that it appears to be a universal across branches, it doesn’t seem inconceivable to me that it ever actually happened. My personal experience with Ring knockers tells me that, yeah, it’s a thing. I’ve known many good officers who came from an Academy. I’ve also known many who didn’t. That’s the thing about the military - personality is generally not a disqualification from serving. There are as many assholes (and possibly more) as there are heroes, whether enlisted or commissioned. The origin story may be hearsay (and probably dates back before the Civil War), but does it really matter?
Also, my own father was a Ring knocker who graduated with Carter and Stockdale and he would be the first to tell you.
I knew a similar USAFA grad. How he survived to graduate is a mystery; his personality was sorta the polar opposite of Academy standard issue. And yes, he departed the service for greener pastures the first day he was eligible to do so.
His line was that he graduated from the “Colorado School for Wayward Boys” (he was in the last all-male class).
His other comment about the place was that it was “A half-million dollar education. Stuffed up your ass one nickel at a time.”
It was common banter that LDO stood for Loud, Dumb & Obnoxious. There was also the NESEP program for awhile (Navy Enlisted Science and Engineering Program), in which enlisted personnel (Navy and Marine) could attend a four year university (there were many to choose from) in the engineering/math curricula, and were commissioned after receiving their degrees.
Did you ever see it happen?
Pretty far from ring knocker. I was an OCS graduate. Not only OCS, state National Guard OCS. No rings here.
This guy had to be good in the academy. He was an aviation officer. To get aviation as an army commissioned officer is pretty tough.
Getting back to the topic, I deployed a few times in joint operations. Spent time on a Navy base. In the chow hall we all ate in there was a section for E-7 and above. It was no different than the rest but you didn’t have to mingle with the riffraff.
I suppose I was a sort of “off brand” ring knocker myself (not academy, other military school, but with a very big ring).
Whatever dude. Your tone and the implication that I was making it up was uncalled for.
The incident that coined the term? No, that probably happened a hundred years before I was born. Have I seen analogous incidents? Yes, absolutely. Some of them in my own home, long before I enlisted.
I don’t know about other services, but in the Navy there is a very hard line between E6 and E7. Making Chief is a very big deal and there is generally a great deal of respect for people in the senior enlisted grades. Generally speaking, Chiefs don’t socialize with junior enlisted, and officers don’t socialize with ANY enlisted. It’s a matter of maintaining a professional distance and not breeding familiarity that might lead to a breakdown in discipline and order.