This is very sad indeed 154 military suicides in 155 days

[Boreas]

Originally Posted by finnbow

While what you say is certainly true, the Army is more merit-based than most any other public (or private institution). In that sense, it is egalitarian (i.e., an enlisted man or officer's chances of career progression is based more on merit than class or clan.) That said, the social classes from which the officers corps and enlisted men come is certainly very different.

My experience in the military, brief though it was, tells me that what you say is largely true in the enlisted ranks but that an officer's career is very much determined by "class and clan". I''ts all about graduation, and class ranking, from one of the service academies and whether your father, grandfather or great, great, great grandfather served and what rank they attained.

John