What's your experience with "clicks" in the Army?

While I'm sure there are cases where someone did not belong to the right clique and were discriminated against, I'm willing to bet far more Soldiers use this as an excuse for not getting what they think they deserve. Centralized promotion boards are a perfect example. When the list comes out for the next week you can hear non-selects talking about how so and so didn't deserve to be picked up. You'll hear very few people analyze the list to find out what the selectees had that they didn't. We tend to have difficulty identifying our own shortcomings.

That issue is not service specific. Unfortunately all services have hit, and I have witnessed it in the AF as well.

I served in an Army Reserve unit from 1978 to 1991 and left because I was promoted to O-5 and there wasn't a position for me. I failed to look around at other units but back to the story. Most people got a Meritorious Service Medal but I didn't. Found out later the same happened to another fellow in the unit when he was promoted to O-5. The common denominator was that we both had served in the 101st in Viet Nam. Neither of us received an award. The garrison commander had served in the 24th Corps in Vietnam and was the senior command over the 101st. Coincidence?? Had to put it behind me. I still go to the unit reunions just to make contact with the guys that I served with and I avoid the West Point commander. :-)