2012, I’m a SSG(P) (two months from pinning SFC), and I get a new soldier who shows up as a PV2.
He was a PFC in Korea (every soldier knows Korea is the great equalizer of rank) and had an “incident” that knocked him down a rank.
I initially didn’t ask any questions about it. I waited a few weeks, then I said “look, I don’t care what happened. I just want to know how you lost your rank. No lies. Tell me the truth. That’s all I want.”
He proceeds to tell me the craziest story.
He got drunk (as soldiers do in Korea), and he “spider-manned” up onto a Korean citizen’s balcony where he passed out. Local police showed up, took him into custody, then ended up dropping the charges.
His command wasn’t so lenient.
You see, this soldier had been chosen by his battalion commander for a green to gold packet. He was red hot, and his BC wanted him to be an officer. He was so angry about the incident that he told the soldier’s company commander to give him a company grade article 15 and knock him down a rank.
This was a problem, because the soldier knew his charges had been dropped, and he wasn’t going to just roll over just for the army to crush him.
He had superb rapport with his company commander, and when his CO brought him in, he told him he was going to have to knock him down to PV2. He told him no. He would take the court martial instead.
You’d have to know what I know. This soldier was extremely charismatic and type A. He told me his commander was very timid and scared of his BC. This commander said “please take the company grade and I’ll make sure you don’t lose rank. I don’t want problems from the BC.”
So the soldier agreed as long as he didn’t lose rank and signed the paperwork. He ended up losing his rank anyways.
My soldier was furious, but he had signed the paperwork, and there was nothing he could do about it.
I told him I appreciated him letting me know what happened, and I had no issue with his conduct.
My MSG came to me less than a week later and said “Sam, I have two SPC waivers. What are your thoughts on [soldiers name.]”
I said “he’s been incredible. Hard worker and a team player. He’s only a PV2 though.”
The MSG told me “I asked S1, and it looks like he never actually lost his rank. They can’t find any demotion. He’s still a PFC.”
Turns out some kind of shenanigans went down in Korea, and I think his company commander “lost” the paperwork and never actually took his rank. Just put on a show for his boss.
So I got to drive out to the range where my soldier was working range support and put PFC rank on him that very day. Two weeks later we pinned SPC on him. Less than a year later we pinned his SGT stripes on him in Afghanistan, and I found out several years later he’d already made SFC.
Moral of the story is to not let your current circumstances dictate your future. You took a hit. Get up, be a good human being, and drive on. Others will notice who and what you are.
If you know how to read a Navy Eval give this one a glance. Don’t worry it worked out. 🤣