To me there’s two times of the year when I look for military photos to showcase for you; Memorial Day and Veterans Day. This photo gives me all the feels for a great military photo. Proud solider, with his family looking on as he is advanced in rank. But then I got to thinking, what do you have to do to get promoted in the United States Army? How does the Army decided who gets promoted and who doesn’t?

The Army takes the number of slots for each rank that it can have and then allocates them to the different Military Occupational Specialities or MOS. Last year it was reported that there were 1.3 million Active Duty personnel. That’s just active duty. It doesn’t even include those in the Reserve Units. 231 of them are Generals. Lets say one of them retires, there is now a vacancy and advancement can occur. That’s one of the things that has to happen in order to advance, there has to be a vacancy.

They don’t just look and see which Lieutenant Colonel is worthy and deserving of advancement. No. If you want to advance, the first thing you do is go before the promotion board. There you are judged on your personal appearance, your conversation skills, knowledge of world affairs, awareness of military programs, knowledge of basic soldiering (Soldier’s Manual) and the soldier’s attitude. There is an assessment of their performance and potential. If you score enough points and pass, your name is then placed on the “Recommended List”. Then as vacancies occur, the Army will consult this list to promote.

Dick was a Major when he retired. That meant when he entered the Army he was lucky to enter as an officer with the rank of 2nd Lieutenant. As a 2nd Lieutenant you lead two or more platoon sized units of 16-44 soldier’s. Within two years most will advance to the rank of 1st Lieutenant and lead more specialized units. Captain is the next rank. As a Captain, Dick would have controlled Company sized units of 62-190 soldier’s. His final rank was Major and it held the most responsibility. He served as primary staff officer for Brigade and task command. It was his duty to manage personnel, logistics and operational missions. And this was all as a Reserve Officer.

This weekend you can search for military records for free at Fold3. This is a genealogy site, dedicated to military records. When I have searched on past Memorial Day weekends, I tend to get overwhelmed at all the names of the soldier’s who gave the last full measure of devotion.  I am sure Dick probably found himself at some time in his career faced with the knowledge of the sacrifice he was being asked to make.  Luckily, his sacrifice was to be made one week-end each month and I hope he felt blessed that he was not asked to sacrifice by being placed in a combat situation.  For those left behind, the knowledge that your loved one is safe is enough to make that sacrifice ok.  But at times I’m sure his sacrifice was felt as he was absent for milestones and events that he missed. So during times when all his hard work and sacrifices were acknowledged, it was a proud family that pinned his new rank on and told him how proud they were of him.

Thank you Dick, Todd, Cris, Coy and any other veterans in our family for making that sacrifice for us all.  Happy Memorial Day.