The Marine Corps Is Changing How It Promotes Sergeants and Staff Sergeants. Here's How

I was in the Marine corp from 59-63 The only way to make Sgt. was to ship over. Their were also E-4 Sgts trying to make E-5 Sgt. or be reduced to E-4 Cpl. After the Korean war and until the Vietnam war rank was hard to make . There were PFC,s with Good conduct medals, That was before L/Cpl. became the Rank of E-3. Then the E-3PFC,s made L/Cpl. but they were still E-3. During the Vietnam war you could make sgt. in 3yrs or less depending on your MOS. It was always next man up. An MOS with a high casualty rate made Sgt. a lot faster. I joined the Army as an E-3 PFC. 15 Months later I was a SP/5. I had about 3 months left in Vietnam when I was offered 2/Lt. If I stayed in country another year. I guess my Experience in the Marine Corp as a Cpl. and attending the NCO. academy in the Army was enough. I had only been married 8 months so I came home and got discharged. Went to work for GM. and stayed 35 yrs. Semper Fi.