A PFC is as high as he could have gone in 2 years.
NOT that I am a Swimmer Supporter - Them’s just the Army regs.
If that was true in the 1950s I know it sure wasn't true later during the Vietnam war. Are you sure about that?
Nope. I know plenty of folks who did two year tours between 1967 and 1973 ( covering the general years there with different folks). Most of them came out as E5s. Specilist to Seargent was not then and is not now that unusual.
Don’t know about now but the Army web site suggests that one can end up as an E3 within 12 months which suggest that our boy Teddy even by today’s standards was a guy who like to sit around and not do much.