SSG still outranks my PhD over a half-century later

American Thinker ^ | August 18, 2026 | R.W. Trewyn

[rlmorel]

From the article:
Having spent over 55 years inside academe — earning Bachelor of Science (BS) and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degrees, then serving as a post-doctoral cancer researcher, faculty member, and research administrator, not retiring until almost 79 years of age — how the one-year title of Staff Sergeant (SSG) decades ago could mean more to me than my PhD might seem bizarre. Nonetheless, it’s true.

Why?

The 19-months in the U.S. Army, as a 24-year-old draftee, transformed my life. Essentially every significant civilian success thereafter can be attributed to that brief stint serving America, and two main factors were responsible.

[redcatcherb412]

Combat a good percentage of the time created a lot of corpses and maimed for life injuries also.

[redcatcherb412]

This response is right on target. As a 17yr old I was headed the wrong direction in the 60’s. After run ins with the law too many times I was given a choice of enlist or jail.
My 3 year enlistment grew me up after my initial negative response to service, and a 7 month tour in the Army during the 68 Tet offensive was an eye opener and woke me up.
I came out of it, straightened the hell up and the past 57 years gave me plenty of reason to never doubt my 1966 decision not to fight it and sign up.

[7thson]

Your last statement - very well said!

[7thson]

I agree with you. The same with me with the exception of my last two duty stations. Sea and shore commands. In my 18 years in, I had eight different postings, and if you through in boot camp and A school, it was 10. However, my last 6 years in - onboard a ship (where I am a plank owner) and a shore command, the Navy seemed to be changing. The comradery seemed to be disappearing and everyone seemed to be out for themselves. It was disheartening.

[7thson]

I used to think this also. Than I read Gen. Tommy Franks autobiography. He stated that the flag officers did not want to see a draft due to it was hard enough to get volunteer personnel to follow orders, much less those forced to serve and did not want to be there in the first place. I tend to agree with that.

Though I will say that a two-year stint in the military or some kind of arduous will get a lot of people in the mind-set as to not only what they want to do in life but also what they do not want to do.

[7thson]

Then you are basically drafting slave labor.

[ansel12]

LOL, youe brain is mush and your ignorance of females in the American military immense, and look at your line three, totally made up out of nowhere, completely made up, you ramble nonsense about the benefits of us replacing some of our combat arms units with all female units.

Your second line is silly since you said all female units (in the American military since that is what I am addressing) would be just as deadly, aka effective, so why not the entire Marine Corps all female if we don’t lose anything when we replace men with females?

Line six seems to show that you don’t realize at all that the American military is replacing a male with a female when they fill the ranks, when a female is made a Marine Infantry officer, she is in place of a male, you don’t seem to know that.

Line 8 makes it clear that you think the American military would be improved if they had all female units and that it has been proven that they would be superior to our male units in some ways, something you think of as Green Berets and SEALs, and the most elite Marines in MARSOC and Air Force Special Operations as you use the official name for the Green Berets, “Special Forces”.

[ansel12]

Two year enlistments are available in the American military and have been going back to at least the Vietnam War (I don’t know if there have been any periods of interruptions in that long standing enlistment option).

If you think the military from 1940 through 1973 was pretty good, that was 33 years of the draft, the draft helped fill the ranks of the Marines, Navy, Coast Guard, and Army in WWII, and ran continuously during the peacetime and helped fill the ranks of the Marine Corps during major wars like Korea and Vietnam.

[Retain Mike]

Thank you. I remember the president at the college where I worked saying one of the professors showed him a combat infantryman’s badge with great pride from his time with the 4th Infantry in Vietnam. The president didn’t get it.

[libertylover]

Ha, ha. I’d say you were SMART enough to know you had no chance in the NBA, but just playing on a D1 team means you were pretty damn GOOD.

[libertylover]

Yes, the pilots were older than most of us in maintenance, but I’m 76 now and I realize the pilots were still pretty young as well. Most of the F-4 pilots were 1st Lieutenants (O-2) or Captains (O-3), a few Majors (O-4), fewer still Lt. Colonels (O-5), and only ONE full Colonel (O-6) - he was the Wing Commander.

My guess as to a breakdown would be about:
O-2 :40%; 25 years old;
O-3: 40%; 30 years old;
O-4: 15%; 35 years old;
O-5: 5%; 40 years old;
0-6: only one; 50 years old.

[ansel12]

That tracks with something I have long thought, that even super rich corporate heads and mega rich Hollywood celebrities in their old age while being happy with their success sometimes give thought to themselves as just men, and are happy that they served in the military and remember that with all that the world admires them for now, in their inner life they feel more fulfilled because they served on that submarine tender, or as a gunner on that bomber, or pulled that hitch in the Army and knowing that they held their own as just one of the guys in life, that their man credentials at the more basic level are solid as well as their second life as business titans or movie star.

It gives them layers, a WWII submarine vet in San Diego that I knew, said that Tony Curtiss always showed at the reunions and that it was all sub tender guy Bernard Schwartz during the reunions, he was proud of it and proud to have that place among the guys in his private life, and then he went back to being Tony Randall back home, he had layers and they are the kind of layers that are important to a quality man.

[Racketeer]

“I believe it still would be a great benefit to both the individual and to the nation to reinstitute the draft, a boon which has since been scotched by the “do-gooders” of Congress.”

A minimum 2 year stint would be a great benefit which is why Congress will not allow it. Congress needs division and American haters to serve the current purpose of Congress.

[rlmorel]

Your breakdown sounds just about exactly right, same with us. In our case, the O-6 was known as the CAG (Carrier Air Group Commander) and we usually had one plane with his name on it, and painted a little differently. He would rarely fly with us. Most of them were F-14 jockeys IIRC!

[Texas Fossil]

I remember a lot of what went on in those 7 years. Then silence.

Thanks, glad you found it interesting.

[21twelve]

“...is a willingness/drive to just get the job done, regardless of how unpleasant it may be.”

I was watching a bunch of those AI created, crappy WWII videos. But I think some of them do tell the truth in a general way.

One thing many of them talk about is the determination of the American soldier - of any rank. AI voice: “The Germans soon realized that even when outnumbered the Americans would not back down. Retreat was rarely seen, they would not stop until the German position was taken. It didn’t matter their losses, their misery or their leaders dead. Every man knew what their objective was, and it would be achieved.”

Obviously that wasn’t the case all of the time, but real history bears that out. Normandy, Battle of the Bulge, etc.

I had a former boss that was the fourth guy in the door for what ended up becoming an international firm. The only guys he hired were vets. (I’m not a vet - worked with him after he went off on his own).

[dakine]

Not “had” - still going strong.. I learn something all the time from the young Military.. Hopefully - I’m passing some ‘learning’ on to them.. I think I’ll hang it up at the nice round figure of 47 years..or 50.. 😀

[rlmorel]

I am mistaken, sir!

Then, do your job and impart what you can to them!

I have two great spurs for my enthusiasm that our young people can indeed save this country:

1.) SpaceX

2.) The US Military

:)

[ansel12]

“””””One thing many of them talk about is the determination of the American soldier - of any rank. AI voice: “The Germans soon realized that even when outnumbered the Americans would not back down. Retreat was rarely seen, they would not stop until the German position was taken. It didn’t matter their losses, their misery or their leaders dead. Every man knew what their objective was, and it would be achieved.””””””

In basic training we were told that the American soldiers prevail because we are a highly competitive people, what you described is the Americans men wanting to beat those guys, to not lose, to not let them win against them.

I guess not only the rational, logical importance of accomplishing the mission, but some little extra oomph driving a persistence, which is coming from the impulse to win this confrontation with the other.