Makes sense to me. I was a USAF Master Sgt. Do you think for one minute, that I would want a POS like him working for me? Not for a minute.
Under other circumstances, I had a 3 striper working for me, when I was Ssgt. He had been a C-130 pilot, but the RIF got him. He stayed in, so he could retire as a Captain. It was weird, because he was 15 years older than me, but he took it in stride, and did everything I asked him to, and retired, and got a pay raise. His wife was an officer too. I think she was an RN.
One of my missile crew commanders was a Captain and then was RIFed. He started his career flying Jolly Green Giants then transitioned to C-141s. As Nam wound down he ended up in missiles.
He only had three years left to retire and the AF let him become an enlisted troop. The last time I saw him I was an E-4 and he was an E-3 getting ready to PCS to Hawaii to close out his career and it was weird being higher ranking to a man that used to be my crew commander.