How does an E6 have 6 service stripes?

Don't be too hasty to judge. You can be right and still get busted. Strong convictions can cost you rank. If he was a complete POS, do you really think he would be utilized to train others? NCOs and SNCOs sometimes put themselves and their rank in jeopardy to protect those in their charge. Rank is not the end all do all when it comes to character.

Uh ~~ "NO"

Things happen! We do know the specifics. I retired as a SSG myself and put in over 25 years. I’m a Nam vet and a Desert Storm vet, after that I went inactive ( thought 2 wars was enough), stayed that way till I turned 60. Looking back it was a good good ride. Making rank isn’t the same for everyone, you do the best you can, and live with the rest.

Okay young man, before today's army it took 10 -15 years for a soldier to navigate from a private to SSG. I for one due to politics and commands keeping me in their commands took me from 91 to 97 to make Sergeant and was medicaled out in 06 at SGT(made DA corporal in 93) But after reeval was promoted to SSG. Due to command oversight and the unfairness of the promotion system.

Well......either the Soldier was busted down a few times or he's ....as the Officers are taught....Enlisted are " sneaky, clever and conniving"....take your pick. Lol

Service strips have nothing to do with rank. He is an E-6 with at least 18 but less than 21 years of service.
Service stripes denote time in service, nothing else.
There are a lot of E-6's who retire at 20 years of service. Not everyone can make E-7 or Higher.
When I 1st joined up in the 70's there were a lot of MOS's that had a bad problem with stagnation. I made E-6 in a fair amount of time, but I had to change my MOS to do that. I Made E-7 with 15 years in service.

There were some MOS's like the one I was in that it was very common for people to never make E-7.
Then when wartime came around it seemed to change and promotions speeded up a little. But in the 80
s during peacetime rank was very slow.
Remember to make E-7 you are competing against all of the other E-6's in the Army.

I served for 21 years as an E6. I was held up with stop loss immediately before retiring at 20. My MOS for E7 was very competitive. Do I regret not getting promoted? not in one bit. I found my niche to serve and did the best I could in all assignments.

I can't tell from the picture, but depending on his past: the same reason why I'm an E5 with four service stripes.

Lots of explanations for that... He could have been discharged and re-entered service with a one grade reduction. That happens quite frequently. I got out of the service after my first three years and re-enlisted a year lated with a one grade reduction. I suspect this may be the case with the SSG in the photo. By the way, there is nothing worng with that - he is obviousely not a shirker of duty - in conjunction with his 18 years of service stripes he has four years of combat stripes. On another note, In 1961, I served with an E4 in Panama that had 19 years of service - however, that's totally different story!

Well, I retired as a SSG with 24 years total service. One reason is I got out after Desert Storm when National Guard for a year and came back to active duty. Was reduced back to E-4 returning to active Duty, in '95 I got out and went Reserves for 3 yrs, then was out completely for 1 year and when I returned to active duty in '99 I was once again reduced back to E-4. I then enlisted as a FA Surveyor. Well hit SSG and what do you know ZERO promotion ability after that. By the time I was eligible for E-7 The Army started getting rid of Survey and blending it in with other MOS like Metro and such. Plus I was happy to be where the mettle met the meat and have steady contact with the Joe's. BTW I retired with 5 over seas ribbons, 3 AAMs, 5 ARCOMS and a MSM.... so retiring as a SSG is not a bad thing.