I know it’s one of the most trivial aspects of this whole mess but can ANYONE tell me how he was promoted from Private to Sergeant while he was gone? I’m thinking his entire unit knew he deserted so how did his CO let that go through?
I believe he was a Private First Class (E-3), not Private (E-1 or E-2) when he left and was automatically promoted to Specialist (E-4) and Sergeant (E-5) while in “captivity” as is normally done for prisoners of war. John McCain and other Vietnam POWs were promoted in absentia, IIRC.