History Main / UpThroughTheRanks

* In ''Film/StarshipTroopers'' Johnny Rico is given a KlingonPromotion from the enlisted ranks so he can take command of the Roughnecks after Lieutenant Raczak is killed.

* The title character of the ''Literature/{{Sharpe}}'' novels began as a sergeant. The Duke of Wellington gave him a field commission in return for saving his life. Richard Sharpe is a commoner and is a lot more coarse than the otherwise mostly aristocratic officer corps, but he makes up for it with sheer skill.

* US Navy Admiral Jeremy Boorda was the first enlisted man to rise all the way up to Chief of Naval Operations(one of the Joint Chiefs of Staff)

* Ia and several secondary characters from the ''Literature/TheirsNotToReasonWhy'' series exits basic as a lance corporal, but has earned a field commission by the end of the first book. In this 'verse it's preferred: while you ''can'' go straight to a MilitaryAcademy after basic, you'll spend the rest of your career as a desk jockey instead of a combat officer.

* Ia and several secondary characters from the ''Literature/TheirsNotToReasonWhy'' series starts as a private, but has earned a field commission by the end of the first book.

* According to the ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' codex, Admiral Steven Hackett, one of the {{Big Good}}s of the ''Franchise/MassEffect'' series, spent four years as an enlisted man and volunteered for several high-risk assignments to explore then-uncharted space beyond the Charon Relay. He then was commissioned as a second lieutenant just in time to serve in the First Contact War.

* In Creator/HarryTurtledove's ''{{Timeline-191}}'' series, Sam Carsten starts out as an enlisted man in the US Navy. During the period between [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarI the Great War]] and [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII the Second Great War]], he takes a test to become an officer, passes, and eventually gets his own command in the later books.

Most military forces that make a delineation between enlisted ranks and commissioned officers have mechanisms in place for having an enlisted soldier become an officer. These people are sometimes referred to as "prior enlisted" or "mustangs". How they became so varies. Sometimes they got a [[FieldPromotion field commission]], but other times they applied for and were accepted to officer candidate school or equivalent. However, an officer that went up through the ranks is usually an exception among the officers--older, less formal education, and with a very different background.

The result of turning a SergeantRock into a ColonelBadass (or other officer rank), without having to pass through EnsignNewbie. The starting point is important here, the character must have several years of experience as an enlisted soldier, before they are made an officer.

* FeudalFuture example with General Martok from ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine''. Fifteen generations of his family had been warriors in the Klingon Defense Force, but since they were commoners none became officers. Martok managed it, and not only did he make it to flag rank despite Kor blacklisting him for his low birth, [[spoiler:but by the end of the series he's the Chancellor of the Empire]].

* Self-{{defied|Trope}} with Chief Warrant Officer Sir Horace Harkness in the ''Literature/HonorHarrington'' series. Characters in-universe mention that he would easily qualify to become an officer if he wanted, possibly even a junior grade captain, but he's content to remain a senior noncom.

* FeudalFuture example with General Martok from ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine''. Fifteen generations of his family had been warriors in the Klingon Defense Force, but since they were commoners none became officers. Martok managed it, and not only did he make it to flag rank, [[spoiler:but by the end of the series he's the Chancellor of the Empire]].

* Rukia Kuchiki, one of the female leads of ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'', spent decades as a rank-and-file Shinigami, despite the fact that the Protection Squads are ranked based on merit, and she had more than enough credentials to be promoted. This is because her adopted big brother (one of the highest ranking officers in said military, and a nobleman), arranged for her to never be promoted and thus kept from dangerous assignments. [[DoomMagnet It didn't work.]] So, after a year-and-a-half timeskip, we see she's been promoted to position only one rung lower than her brother holds.

* The majority of the [[UsefulNotes/IsraelisWithInfraredMissiles Israeli Defense Force's]] officer corps is this, since they do not have officer candidate schools.

* ''Literature/TrailOfGlory'': Sergent Patrick Driscoll had served more than a decade in Napoleon's army when he enlisted in the US army and participated in the WarOf1812. When he lost his left arm in the battle at the Chippewa, Winfield Scott promoted him to first lieutenant. He ended up as a founder of the Arkansas Chiefdom and the general of its army, but never lost the way of thinking like a sergeant.

--> -- '''Lieutenant, formerly Lance-Corporal Dand [=McNeill=]''', ''[[Literature/McAuslan The General Danced at Dawn]]''