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All political influences.

While not a fan of Hunter and drug snorting officers, clearly Hunter was able to leverage his connections in his past and present.

However, the author of the article is a Cry Baby. Say's this 48 year old Direct Commission USAR 1LT. I procured both an age waiver, and a medical waiver for Quartermaster, and put on 2LT bars at age 42 1/2+

The author of the article would have been better served looking up commissioning regulations instead calling Senators and Admirals to throw their influence around without spelling out the regulatory pathway to the approving authority. The Admiral of "Public Affairs" mentioned in the article is probably not the guy the author needed in his corner. Now, the Admiral of recruitment or commissioning (HRC in the army known as Human Resource Command) would have been WAY MORE useful.

Clearly Hunter had someone in his corner that got him through the system, but I suspect his commission was legitimate "per the regs". I get the impression the author of the article expected others to figure it out for him. "Knowing" a Senator/Admiral is not the same thing as being their "Son" in terms of the lengths they might go through to figure it out for them.

For the record, I tried the USNR first. They didn't return my call. I went to the USAR, and they told me I couldn't commission directly from the OUTSIDE, but the USAR allowed direct commissions up to age 42. I enlisted at 38 as an Intel Analyst, and submitted my first Direct Commission packet at 40+. My packet was denied the first time because I wanted INTEL (high popularity). Learned my lesson and submitted a packet again at 41+ but this time for QUARTERMASTER (low popularity and a bazzilion vacancies). I was accepted, and since already in the USAR, then a SGT with a deployment with 20 civilian years in commerce and an MBA the waivers were forthcoming (never having a letter of recommendation from anything more than a USAR Lt. Col).

The author could have ate some crow, enlisted, and gone down other paths and been a Lt Col in the USAR by now. At the very least most certainly a Major. Maybe he could have even made it in the Navy.