How can someone retire as an E5 or E6?

Uhhhh, because one was allowed to retire at E-5 and E-6 when I was in. I didn’t want E-7.

I retired in before they rolled back the timeline for E5 and E6 retirement. But as far as your opinion on the retirement of lower enlisted I find it a very good question but what does it matter what rank you are all military ranks deserve the same consideration and respect. From the lowest PVT to the Highest General. You serve your country for your own reasons but, retirement is earned and not given.

Different jobs have different rank structures. In mine, SFC was (relatively) easy, MSG was nigh on impossible (less than 1% of eligibles promoted 2 years in a row, never more than 3%. Ever. 1.9% was a good year for us.) In other jobs, SSG points stay at 798 for YEARS, making a barrier for MANY folks. I went to AIT with a guy (we were both reclass) who had 795 points - because he was not an infantryman in an infantry unit, and the CSM refused to allow any non-infantry to get higher than a 195 (out of 200). He maxxed EVERYTHING he could - he just had an asshole CSM looked down on non-infantry. He had to reclass to promote, after spending 3 years waiting for points.

If reclass wasn't an option, he would have been out at 12 as a SGT. Not because he was bad, but because his CSM was.

Most Army jobs bottleneck, it is just a question of what rank it happens at. If the bottleneck happens between SSG and SFC.... well. welcome to retired SSG.

In those jobs, where that bottleneck occurs, in my experience, whether or not you make tje grade is honestly only about 50% what you do. The other half is what your bosses do. If your bosses don't write well, your excellence cannot be properly conveyed, and making it out of the bottleneck becomes impossible.

When I first joined in 2002, I saw a lot of SSGs retire. This includes my first squad leader at Fort Hood in 2004. My father in law was a SGT for 11 years before he put in his warrant packet. Pre-war Army and early war Army seemed to be like this. I remember I was an E4 for 5 years because my points were at 798. I just kept doing correspondence classes and working on my PT and weapons qual. I think I got my points up to like 740 and one month, out of the blue, the cutoff was 730. Not as common now but certainly back then it was.

Medical Retirement