Help identify the rank, title, etc. of the Army recruiter in “Stripes” (1981)

January 31, 2015 | Silly

[Prole]

Everyone who has indicated he is an E-7 (Sergeant First Class) is correct.

Everyone who noticed he has a Vietnam era Combat Infantry Badge, and his unit in Vietnam was the 101st Airborne Division is also correct.

The Purple Heart and Meritorious Unit Commendation references are also correct.

....But the one thing that everyone seems to miss about this image is THE HAIR!!!

I have always, always, always believed that Soldiers should BE ALLOWED to have trimmed hair in the Army. The NCO in the "Stripes" photo has a professional and trim haircut, and doesn't look like Mr. Potato Head or Bert/Ernie.

One of the nuisances with today's Army is Soldiers shave their heads entirely bald, and look like Mr. Clean or some absurd nonsense.

They look ridiculous like this, especially in civilian clothing (and for even better reason, they are easily identifiable in terms of OPSEC):

One of the things I really like about the Cold War era Army is that Soldiers were allowed to maintain short, trimmed haircuts and look good with it while in uniform.

[Silly]

Maybe they didn’t need to.

[Silly]

First, what a fun project tonight to enlist your help in fact-checking my piece! Again, many thanks!

Are the two "rockers" the bottom two stripes? Then yes, even the screen shot makes this clear he's SFC.

For background, the piece of creative nonfiction I'm writing is for submission to a fun column in The New York Times. I've had numerous pieces published by them, and the one I'm working on now, in addition to being autobiographical, is really fun, humorous, and, of course, true.

One tip I have for anyone submitting items to major journals such as the Times, is that they love, love, love carefully researched, perfectly denoted minor details such as the one we're discussing. Writing good pieces is not enough; they really like to see that all aspects of a piece have the polish that came only come from checking tiny details and using established style manuals to write and even punctuate them with the precision of a seasoned editor. It is a big part of my success in the number and rate of items published. Aspiring writers, listen and learn.

Here is a link to a list of my previous items in the Times:

tinyurl.com/ddklenk

[OneWingedShark]

Being from the Air Force I am not familiar with the Army’s rank structure.

Ah, you should be… after all, the Air Force is only the Army Air Corps with an overinflated ego.
(Sorry, I couldn't resist the ribbing; if it makes you feel better, I call my marine brother a Squid-borne Ranger.)

[OneWingedShark]

Are the two "rockers" the bottom two stripes?

Yep, the bowed stripes "hanging" from the chevrons are the rockers.

The word chevron is [IIRC] from a French word used to indicate the roofing-parts [essentially the A part of the A-frame].
The Sergeant stripes [worldwide] are commonly V-, rather than A-shaped, though.

There's a table of US Militart enlisted ranks here.

[BlueNgold]

Nothing in the reg prevents a clean trim haircut.

High and tights are far from required.

Unless you are airborne there’s a lot of room for personal choice, as long as it meets reg.

[clintonh8r]

"I wanna party with this guy...."

[Prole]

Granted, but sporting a trim haircut in many units will get you "that guy" looks from the stupid Bic-Heads in today's leadership positions.

What the often myopic Bic-heads out there fail to understand is that Soldiers look better this way:

While it may be possibly understandable for certain units to apply the Bic-head standard, it is not necessary for the Army at large. It is simply a stupid and tasteless style, and those in leadership positions should be banned from intimidating Soldiers to conform to this ridiculous crap:

[smokingfrog]

The Air Force likes to wear their stripes upside-down for some reason

[Mjaye]

Enjoyed your pieces at the link you provided. My Dad was a journalist/Editor, at a Southern CA newspaper, and he wrote daily columns for many years. He loved including the day to day slices of life you favor.

Reading about NYC is interesting to me as I’ve never been there. Good luck with your “Stripes” project. Never saw the movie, but now may take a look at it.

[Silly]

Thank you, so glad you clicked on the link! It is a pleasure to write and a thrill to get published.

[boop]

Not to hijack, but what was Sgt. Carter's rank in Gomer Pyle?

I know he was a Marine, but he was also a recruiter in at least one episode.

IIRC, they made his uniform accurate, complete with Korean combat insignia.

They didn't make him a hokey TV uniform.

[boop]

[W.]

Ha, I’ve seen it written it was supposedly forbidden to accurately portray a man in military uniform on camera, so a better pot-stirring question would have been to ask what was WRONG with the uniform in the pic in question. Just funnin’ ya... ;)

[Radix]

In the movie ‘Private Benjamin’ of around the same time, Goldie Hawn is seen bitching about the promises made to her by the Recruiter. Recruiters were well known or believed to be incredible liars willing to promise anything to get new enlistees.

I thought it was one of the funniest scenes ever when she was asking about ‘the condos’ that she was promised.

Both of those movies were rather irreverent regarding Army life, but I enjoyed them at the time when they came out because I had only been discharged a few months myself.

Some of the things presented were quite fantastic and outrageously bogus but that was what made them funny to me anyhow.

[JimRed]

First Sergeant?

[JimRed]

Staff is three up, no rocker.

[Tucker39]

Staff Sergeant. I can only make out 1 rocker.

[JimRed]

I was wrong...mea culpa, mea maxima culpa!

[pacific_waters]

No,the right sleeve patch designates the unit you served in in a foreign assignment.