For the military folks - anyone crossed over from E to O?

[deserat]

FinallyRetired - my granddaddy was just that - he was Major during WWII flying airplanes over the hump. He tried to find a job after WWII and decided to go back in enlisted - however, when he retired he got the pay and rank of Major.

 

[FinallyRetired]

FinallyRetired - my granddaddy was just that - he was Major during WWII flying airplanes over the hump. He tried to find a job after WWII and decided to go back in enlisted - however, when he retired he got the pay and rank of Major.

I'm glad they rewarded him with the higher pay grade. This was probably the case with the O5 to E5 guy. Reason I remember that one so well, he had a hot daughter that I was trying to date but, being the base commanders' daughter, it wasn't easy. So when he went to E5 I thought I might have a chance, but that didn't work either. Guess it wasn't the rank thing

 

[OAG]

When I entered the Army in 1958 there were a lot of ex-officers around. Had a good friend that was a full Colonel at the end of WWII and he was serving as a Corporal. He had 10 years as an Officer but due to the reduction in force had to "step down" to enlisted ranks as an MSG E-7 - "adjustment" and some other problems took him down to CPL E-4. He did eventually "retire" as a Colonel. There were so many MSG E-7's that "came down" from Officer status after WWII (and to a lesser degree after Korea) (you could tell in those days because the prefix on the SN (serial numbers not social security numbers) was RO (for Reserve Officer) or RM (if they were in Warrant Officer status) that promotions to MSG E-7 were virtually halted from about 1947 to 1958. In 1958 the Army came up with the Grades E-8 and later E-9 to solve the problem. The former Officers had a date of rank back to when they were commissioned originally, so being more senior, most of the new E-8 and E-9 positions went to them. Really, created a large moral problem for the Army in the enlisted ranks until they all started to retire in the 60's. I saw a similar problem, to a much lesser degree, during the reduction in forces after Vietnam. I doubt that will occur after the current war since the forces are a lot smaller in number, and IMO, much better managed.

 

[mickeyd]

Began as an E-1. Ended as O-5. It was a nice ride.

 

[Gumby]

Update:
Did not get selected at last year's board. This year....wooohooo!!! 144 packages were submitted, and only 6 of us were selected!!

BZ Fireup!

 

[Nords]

When I entered the Army in 1958 there were a lot of ex-officers around. Had a good friend that was a full Colonel at the end of WWII and he was serving as a Corporal. He had 10 years as an Officer but due to the reduction in force had to "step down" to enlisted ranks as an MSG E-7 - "adjustment" and some other problems took him down to CPL E-4. He did eventually "retire" as a Colonel. There were so many MSG E-7's that "came down" from Officer status after WWII (and to a lesser degree after Korea) (you could tell in those days because the prefix on the SN (serial numbers not social security numbers) was RO (for Reserve Officer) or RM (if they were in Warrant Officer status) that promotions to MSG E-7 were virtually halted from about 1947 to 1958. In 1958 the Army came up with the Grades E-8 and later E-9 to solve the problem. The former Officers had a date of rank back to when they were commissioned originally, so being more senior, most of the new E-8 and E-9 positions went to them. Really, created a large moral problem for the Army in the enlisted ranks until they all started to retire in the 60's. I saw a similar problem, to a much lesser degree, during the reduction in forces after Vietnam. I doubt that will occur after the current war since the forces are a lot smaller in number, and IMO, much better managed.

Interesting bit of "undiscovered history". You sure don't read about it in the modern military's career-planning guides.

The Navy's personnel-management computers & websites have made it much more credible to tinker with manpower projections. Maybe too easy. But it certainly beats the crap out of the index-card system they were using in the 1980s.