No reenlistment bonus. I’ve seen too many Staff Sargents too dumb to get that 5th stripe. Keeping them around was an embarrassment. 20 years allowed them to go quietly.
...the old saying, what is new is old again and visa versa... my first 6 years of service with the United States Navy...very early 1960s... had a lot of “left over” swabbies from the WWII era... a number of them had more “hash marks” (i.e. service stripes - each stripe was 4 years of service..) below the elbow than they had above... i.e., E-4s and E-5s...I believe many retired with 20 years of service without ever having gone above the rank they held at that time.... ahhh, the days of “iron ships and wooden men.....”
I saw some B-52 career fields were people waited for someone to die or retire before making rank. Smaller fields like Bomb-Nav and Fire-control for example. Felt bad for those guys.
“ I’ve seen too many Staff Sargents too dumb to get that 5th stripe.”
I retired with 24 years and 4 months. As far as Staff Sergeants being dumb I find that a slur on patriotic men & women who may just not be good at taking exams, which is the biggest factor in promotions. I also never liked the up or out policy since getting promoted to senior ranks meant essentially quitting your technical job and becoming a personnel manager. Some people would prefer and are better suited to be on the flight line fixing aircraft their whole career and promotion to higher ranks puts an end to that. I always saw this as a perfect example of the Peter Principle.