Markup View

Author: kjnoren

Jan 12th 2014 at 12:19:29 PM

Some ideas on improving the description, provided you're going that way. (Note that the examples need some pruning too.)

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Laconic: A veteran enlisted soldier is made into an officer

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.

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 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 the exception among the officers--older, less formal education, and with a very different background.

Prior enlisted are often characterized as being more blue-collar and down-to-earth than those who started as officers, and in many cases are trusted more by the rank-and-file because of it. This is frequently helped along by the character having seen some action, unlike an EnsignNewbie who is usually straight from the MilitaryAcademy.

Closely related to RankUp. The distinction is twofold: First, someone who came up through the ranks may have done it offscreen, and second, this is specifically promotion from enlisted man to commissioned officer.
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