Old US Soldiers, Mandatory Retirement and Rank.
Setting: contemporary America / the world, between 1990-2007
Previous research: numerous different Google searches on retirement, mandatory retirement, US Army etc as well as digging through several US armed forces websites. Military.com's Army Professional Developement Center was very helpful, as was Wikipedia's information on the US Army.
Subject: The subject is a retired ex-Special Forces soldier from the U.S. army, specifically a career NCO that spent most of his career assigned to the 1st Special Forces Group, which is based in Okinawa and is responsible for the Pacific Rim, and his career extended from Vietnam to the first Gulf War (1960-1991). Warning: I'm throwing around years and timelines here, trying to see what is within the realm of general plausibility.
Now, that last is a big part of the question: is it plausible for a man to be in the Special Forces for 8 years before reaching the rank of E-5?
If not, then the character will have to be an E-9 in the time period that I am concerned about. If it is, then E-8 is definitely still an option.
Previous research: numerous different Google searches on retirement, mandatory retirement, US Army etc as well as digging through several US armed forces websites. Military.com's Army Professional Developement Center was very helpful, as was Wikipedia's information on the US Army.
Subject: The subject is a retired ex-Special Forces soldier from the U.S. army, specifically a career NCO that spent most of his career assigned to the 1st Special Forces Group, which is based in Okinawa and is responsible for the Pacific Rim, and his career extended from Vietnam to the first Gulf War (1960-1991). Warning: I'm throwing around years and timelines here, trying to see what is within the realm of general plausibility.
Now, that last is a big part of the question: is it plausible for a man to be in the Special Forces for 8 years before reaching the rank of E-5?
If not, then the character will have to be an E-9 in the time period that I am concerned about. If it is, then E-8 is definitely still an option.