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Thanks. If you're right (and I have no reason to doubt it) that he was selected for O-3 before '72, then it would be a second passover for O-4 (LCDR). Should have happened in FY'77, but conceivable due to bureaucracy his file missed the FY'77 promotion board and got into the FY'78 board, or that he was nonselected by the FY'77 board and it wasn't until '78 that the Navy got the paperwork done.

I resigned my commission in 1972 as an O-3 and was placed in the Standby Reserves. I received my Honorable Discharge on Feb 16, 1978 (same date and letter as Kerry) with no action for or against on my part and I was listed as an O-4 (LCDR). I doubt that Kerry was discharged because he was passed over. He, like myself, just went through the normal reserve administrative process, which transitions officers out of the service.

Well, 2 possiblities for "normal procedures": nonselection or simply no longer needed. The people I knew were nonselected, but I'm sure in the late '70s, there were some simply "excess to needs of service w/o critical skills" which I take yours to be.

In any event, before the boys and girls who weren't even born then go charging off with this one, these possibilities need to be examined and eliminated, unless true, in which case we should all shut up about Kerry's discharge.