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

January 31, 2015 | Silly

[Silly]

Dear FReepers:

I’m writing a short work which contains a tangential reference to a character in “Stripes” (1981), Morgan, the Army recruiter who interviews John (Bill Murray) and Russell (Harold Ramis).

Can you kindly help me identify the recruiter’s rank, etc., from this screen shot? (See comment #1 for a link to the the full scene.)

(BTW, this information is not in IMDb’s Trivia and Goofs pages — I checked.)

Also, as a side question for you real military experts (not essential to the piece), can you tell me whether the rank that our FReepers identify from Morgan's movie uniform is consistent with that of real-life recruiters from that era (early 80s)? Just curious about it. I know movies do not always research things perfectly, especially in non-so-serious films.

Thanks for your help! If my piece gets published, I’ll post a link here.

— Silly

[Silly]

Scene on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xR9HuRUUTbs#t=41

[OneWingedShark]

Looks like a Sergeant First Class to me — seems to be a bit of a second rocker on the far sleeve.

[Perdogg]

staff sergeant

[gaijin]

Army E-6, Staff Sergeant, Infantry, 101st Airborne

[OneWingedShark]

Yep, the clip clearly shows that he’s an SFC.

[Mastador1]

Staff Sergeant?

[Jack Hydrazine]

Looks like a staff sergeant.

[Larry Lucido]

Lighten up, Francis.

[ButThreeLeftsDo]

Vice President in charge of looking out the window.

;-)

[gaijin]

He’s right —the motion clip shows he’s not E-6, he’s E-7, Sergeant First Class.

[OneWingedShark]

staff sergeant

Nope — Look again, there's a second rocker on the far sleeve.
(The video clip shows the patches [both arms] clearly.)

[dfwgator]

You just made the list, buddy.

[TaMoDee]

Yup, SFC(two rockers), AB, Purple Heart, RVN.

[Perdogg]

got it...

[Silly]

WOW! What an amazingly fast response! And with clear consensus among the responders! Thanks, everyone!

Still being,

[ScottinVA]

He’s a staff sergeant.. an E-6. It was entirely feasible for a recruiter to hold that rank during that era.

[SargeK]

Wartime service in the 101st. Current HQ is unknown because the left shoulder patch is not visible. But the border appears red in the screen shot.

[Larry Lucido]

:-)

[ScottinVA]

Ah, OK.. didn’t check the clip. The chevrons appear to be those of a SSG, apparently the bottom rocker is obscured.

[AFreeBird]

Lighten up Francis.