A soldier's career

efreysson · Oct 8, 2016

I'm writing a sequel to my space opera, and I'm thinking of bringing back a minor character from the first book. He was a sergeant in the armed forces, who served with great distinction as a squad leader during several important operations. In real life, what would someone like that be up to 20+ years later?

ironmikezero · Oct 8, 2016

A second career in some form of law enforcement would not be unusual. One can enter the military at 17/18 and retire with 20 years of service at 37/38. It is not unusual for such a retiree to begin a second career in LE and look forward to a (second) 20 year retirement at 57-58. Sometimes this is commonly referred to as "double-dipping" (receiving two retirement annuities).

A second career in any other form of civil service is possible; however, retirement eligibility would typically be attained after a longer period of service and at an older age (more specifically a combination of the two factors, like 30 years service and age 62+).

efreysson · Oct 8, 2016

ironmikezero said:
A second career in some form of law enforcement would not be unusual. One can enter the military at 17/18 and retire with 20 years of service at 37/38. It is not unusual for such a retiree to begin a second career in LE and look forward to a (second) 20 year retirement at 57-58. Sometimes this is commonly referred to as "double-dipping" (receiving two retirement annuities).

A second career in any other form of civil service is possible; however, retirement eligibility would typically be attained after a longer period of service and at an older age (more specifically a combination of the two factors, like 30 years service and age 62+).

I see. But what if a person stays in the armed forces?

madjack · Oct 8, 2016

There is usually a maximum amount of time someone can stay in the service based on their rank. If your character is only a sergeant, I'm not sure they could go much past twenty years and remain in the service. (At least this is how I remember it). Also, it might be based on age as well, for example, not past 62 years or something like that. You can probably find some info online or someone else may know for sure the age limits/time limits based on rank.

Edited to add: But yours is a space opera so you can do whatever you want.

CWatts · Oct 8, 2016

madjack said:
There is usually a maximum amount of time someone can stay in the service based on their rank. If your character is only a sergeant, I'm not sure they could go much past twenty years and remain in the service. (At least this is how I remember it). Also, it might be based on age as well, for example, not past 62 years or something like that. You can probably find some info online or someone else may know for sure the age limits/time limits based on rank.

Edited to add: But yours is a space opera so you can do whatever you want.

Just as an example, my husband's uncle served 20 years in the US Army, rising to Command Sergeant Major which is the highest enlisted rank and senior advisor to commanding officers. Then he spent 20 more years as a civilian employee at the Pentagon.

Since it's space opera, maybe your guy is the one pointing out the design flaws with that thermal exhaust port...

cmhbob · Oct 8, 2016

There are multiple "sergeant" ranks. E-5 through E-9, with increasing responsibility along the way.

In the Army:

E-5 - Sergeant: typically runs a 3-4 member combat team or section
E-6 - Staff Sergeant: Will run squad or larger section, like a company-level supply section, handling logistics for 200 or so troops.
E-7 - Sergeant First Class: NCO in charge of a platoon (50-ish troops), or can act as the First Sergeant, the senior NCO in a company-sized unit.
E-8 - Master Sergeant; First Sergeant; Sergeant Major. A Master Sergeant is a staff position, usually at the battalion level or higher (5 or so companies). They're the NCOs running Supply, Operations, Security and so forth for the battalion. A First Sergeant is the senior NCO in a company. Sergeant Major is the similar position for a battalion, brigade or similar sized command.
E-9 - Sergeant Major. This is a command-level senior NCO. Lots of variants.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Army_enlisted_rank_insignia is a good explanation.

20 years after making E5, a person is likely to be retired. They might have topped out at E8 is they were particularly motivated, and had combat experience. Certain MOSs (Military Occupational Specialties - your job field) have their NCOs advance more rapidly than others. It's entirely possible for NCOs in some career fields to spend 6-7 years at E6.

Langadune · Oct 8, 2016

Most of my friends who have served and saw combat were more than ready to put that part of their lives behind them an become a "regular" person. They became construction workers, technicians and in one case a farmer. One of my classmates just retired from the Marines and is now pursuing his lifelong dream of being a helicopter pilot (private license).

Depends on what you story is trying to do, but personally I'd relate better to a character who has put war behind him but gets pulled back in.

cmhbob · Oct 9, 2016

I'll also add that a lot of guys who have left military service during the current conflict have turned around and spent a couple of years doing military contracting/consulting in the exact same areas.

efreysson · Oct 9, 2016

madjack said:
There is usually a maximum amount of time someone can stay in the service based on their rank. If your character is only a sergeant, I'm not sure they could go much past twenty years and remain in the service.

cmhbob said:
20 years after making E5, a person is likely to be retired. They might have topped out at E8 is they were particularly motivated, and had combat experience. Certain MOSs (Military Occupational Specialties - your job field) have their NCOs advance more rapidly than others. It's entirely possible for NCOs in some career fields to spend 6-7 years at E6.

What about staying on as some sort of trainer, after retiring from combat duties? Who usually handles that?

Langadune said:
Most of my friends who have served and saw combat were more than ready to put that part of their lives behind them an become a "regular" person. They became construction workers, technicians and in one case a farmer. One of my classmates just retired from the Marines and is now pursuing his lifelong dream of being a helicopter pilot (private license).

Depends on what you story is trying to do, but personally I'd relate better to a character who has put war behind him but gets pulled back in.

This idea is still young and malleable, but the short version is that he joins a peacekeeping force of sorts.

WeaselFire · Oct 10, 2016

Mercenary. There's not a lot of military use for an old sergeant, few ever reach higher than Master Sergeant and you don't go up from there, you go home.

Now, if you need him to advance further, you could give him a battlefield commission. I don't know if it's been done since Viet Nam, but it does have precedence and you can always put it into the backstory. Or send him through whatever your world's equivalent of Officer Candidate School is.

FWIW, I have a friend who was drafted into the Army during Viet Nam as a Captain, never issued a uniform or insignia, never went to any basic training or other military training and never fired any type of weapon, all while he had a deferment. He was a grad student and his program got taken over by the military and he was assigned staff. To be able to direct the staff, which included a Lieutenant, he had to have a rank. Still gets his military pension, though it's not that much.

Jeff

PeteMC · Oct 12, 2016

My friend's brother joined the (British) army as a private, 25 years later he's still in and has worked his way up to Regimental Sergeant Major which is as high as the non-commissioned ranks go. He must be in his mid-late 40s by now, I assume they'll make him retire at some point but it doesn't seem to be a mandatory 20-years-and-done over here.

Bolero · Oct 13, 2016

In the UK there are also the Territorials. Don't know how many soldiers retire but keep it up part time in the Territorials.
Also Naval Reserve - certainly used to be that navy personnel might be in the reserve (with I think a payment) while retired from naval service (often they were in merchant marine) and could be called on immediately if there was need.

Trebor1415 · Oct 15, 2016

There are plenty of 20 plus year career NCO's. To stay in though after that much time he'd have to be one of the highest NCO ranks in the organization. We're talking Sgt Major level top stuff. There aren't a lot of slots like that, but not a lot of guys to fill them either, so it works out.

He could also have been given a warrant as a "Warrant Officer" sometime in the past. In some cases this is done as kind of a reward to a long serving NCO near the end of their career as it will give him better retirement pay. As a warrant he is made an officer by "warrant" instead of "Commission" so it can be done administratively. He would rank above all enlisted but below all Commisioned officers.

Heck, if you wanted, he could have gone "green to gold" and been offered a chance for a regular commision sometime and made the jump to officer status. If that works for the story it's a possibility.

Whatever the exact details, he will have much more responsibility after 20 years in, and more likely to be an administrative or training role as opposed to a front line role.

A soldier's career

efreysson

Closer than ever

ironmikezero

practical experience, FTW

efreysson

Closer than ever

madjack

CWatts

down the rabbit hole of research...

cmhbob

Did...did I do that?

Langadune

Harley Writer

cmhbob

Did...did I do that?

efreysson

Closer than ever

WeaselFire

Benefactor Member

PeteMC

@PeteMC666

Bolero

Trebor1415

practical experience, FTW