How does an E6 have 6 service stripes?

I've met a lit of great Navy E-6s who retired at E-6 with no adverse events in their career (NJP, demotions, etc).. Nothing wrong with it. It is 100% honorable to do so. This question just proved how green you are. I look forward to seeing how your attitude changes as your career progresses.

I was in 14 years before I was medically retired for my combat injuries. Retired as a SSG no big deal I finished ALC before my MEB but my sequence number didn't make the cut and my MEB happened very quickly . Would have been nice to get promoted one more time but it's all good I'm am enjoying my retirement very much. Hang in there Soldier you'll get there keep your nose clean, and remember the 3 R's : Right time, Right Place, and Right Uniform. Everything else is clockwork

I try to rarely respond on these types of "questions", but this one keeps rattling around in my head. SO, here goes...PFC O'Hara...stay away from the 'Stolen Valor' shaming crowd--I'll never forget the moment when I had my CC, an Maj (O-4) with his 4 ribbon rack, look at my SSgt (E-5) rack of 12 + ribbons AND 2 occupation badges...and his only comment was DAMN. If the individual earns it--good on them...if not--that will be between them and their God! Everyone wants to be in a YouTube post of "getting that fu€#er stealing valor"--trust me, it isn't worth it...because you have to ask yourself "what if this guys legit"...a shaming brings not only discredit to you, but also to someone AUTHORIZED and recognized for his/her service.

My Dad retired from the Navy as a BM1 with 17 years in grade. Once WW2 ended, they didn't promote many Boatswain's Mates to chief. Of course, they didn't have the "up or out" policy then either.

He may have been in a non-combat arms related MOS. Promotion points are usually much higher and harder to attain. I was a Carpentry/Masonry Specialist and the point level was twice those in the combat arms MOS's. I was ecstatic when I made E-5 in under 4 years.

I fast tracked but looking back wish I hadn't. From the picture what I can get from the picture the guy is one of two MOSs. Either a 35N or 35P. This picture is from Goodfellow AFB and they only teach those two MOSs and firefighters there. Depending if he has a language and which language he does have his promotion track could either be really fast or slow. That is if he is a 35P. As a 35N he could very likely just be stuck. I had this same MOS and hit my 6 by little over five years but when I went to my next station I ran into many a fellow 35Ns that had been in 14 years before pinning 6. It happens the only reason I was able to move up so fast was the need for my MOS at the time. It is normally a small field, at the time I went in less the 2000 total in the MOS. when I left it was closer to 4000. But that was from 2001 to 2009.

A lot of my friends retired as a SSG. Nothing wrong with that.

Navy vet here, so the comparison is not exact, but in the late nineties I had folks working for me who were E6 and sometimes E5 in ratings (like MOS in the Army) that just didn't budge. Promotability is highly dependent on your field, unfortunately. We didn't have a lot of guys retire at 20 at E6, but you did see it sometimes.

I had the honor of serving OIF 07-08 with a E5 that was in the Vietnam war his mos did not have slots to move up he was a good guy and a lot more high speed than a lot of the younger guys but he was happy with what he was doing and rank was not important. To him

He might not want E-7, or may not have a slot to promote into. Depending on the MOS, there are only so many E-7 positions available.