On 11/15/2013 8:29 AM, F.O.A.D. wrote:
On 11/14/13, 4:15 PM, Mr. Luddite wrote:
On 11/14/2013 1:02 PM, John H wrote:


Damn! Honestly, they don't pour out whatever knowledge you've gained
as an enlisted when you go to
OCS. ****, I was an SP5. I knew my artillery stuff pretty good!

John H. -- Hope you're having a great day!




What were people like yourself who were enlisted and then earned a
commission called in the Army?

In the Navy it was "Mustanger"


One of my uncles was an army mustang. He enlisted in the army right
after Pearl Harbor, was regularly promoted, achieved the rank of
sergeant, and after some sort of battlefield heroics was promoted to the
rank of officer. He died in action about six months later. My mother,
whose brother he was, told me about this, and she had correspondence she
showed me that her father and mother received from the war department or
the army or whomever that described his service, promotion to officer,
death, et cetera. After the war, my mother and father met some soldiers
from her brother's unit, and they all described him as a "mustang"
officer, meaning someone promoted up from the ranks as a result of
battlefield action.

I was a young boy when my mother told me about this, and I don't recall
any significant details. I never met that uncle because he died before I
was born, but when my mother's mother died some years later, I attended
the funeral and after she was buried, we walked over to part of the
cemetery where the uncle's gravestone was. I seem to recall that there
was a marker, but no body buried there, but I'm hazy on that. It was a
really bad day, because of my grandmother's death and funeral.


That was a gripping story. Well written too.
Thanks for sharing.

--
Americans deserve better.