What do you think the Chiefs did before becoming a chief?
Stop and think really, really hard. They went to Chief school....no no no. They joined the Navy as a Chief....no no no.
The correct answer is: They worked their asses off as the lower echelon until they EARNED the rank of chief!
Were you in the Navy? If so you know that E-1s through E-5s do ALL the maintenance work on the ships and aircraft. E-6s were shop supervisors who assigned tasks and filled out watch assignments. E-7s usually had not turned a wrench in years. Even more so for senior chiefs and master chiefs. In fact, the questionnaires for those ranks required little knowledge of the equipment and focused on how good of a manage you would be.
You nailed it DH. Hubby would have made E9 if not for a traffic accident that had him in hospital when Eval promotions were being done, and been a Ret. MCPO, instead of a SCPO.
Hubby started as a E1 at 18, 20 yrs later retired as a E8 SCPO. He was on the Midway when they pulled the Ambassador out of Nam, off the coast of Cuba during the Missile Crisis, worked the Flight Deck on his other cruises. Then Taught A/B schools in between. Kept the Communication gear operational along with his other duties.
He didn’t sit on his can drinking coffee. He WORKED during working hrs. Yes he might have had a cup of coffee doing his paper work. But even civilians do that. It was the way they stayed awake when pulling more than a 8 hr shift.
He EARNED his RANK, it was not handed to him.
Only those who went to college are basically handed their first rank after boot camp.
There have been purges of the Military after wars for as long as we have had a Military, but not at this high a level. It got so bad under the Peanut Farmer, Reagan had to nearly totally rebuild the Military along with fighting the Cold War. It got bad under Slick Willie, and GWB had to correct that. Now 0 is decimating our Military to make room for ILLEGAL INVADERS. You have to look for the motive behind the purging.
Krauthammer:
http://www.thefederalistpapers.org/us/krauthammer-why-in-gods-name-are-we-doing-this