MovieChat Forums > Major Payne (1995) Discussion > Factual error: If you are a Major in th...

Factual error: If you are a Major in the armed forces


they aren't supposed to discharge you until you serve out your 20 years, thus qualifying for a pension. If you are a Captain on the other hand, and fail to obtain promotion to Major within a certain timeframe, then they are supposed to discharge you. Technically, the same rule applies for promotion from Major to Lieutenant Colonel. But since promotion to that level usually comes during the 15th to 17th year of a commissioned officer's service, an unspoken rule is to let Majors who fail to get promoted to serve out their full 20 years so they get their pension. Only if the Major is a real screw-up will they be let go before then.

Anyway, I get the impression that they let Payne go immediately after he failed to get Lieutenant Colonel. It seems kind of cold to screw a dedicated Marine out of his pension that way.

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Well, a little army knowledge never hurt anybody .. thanks

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Was this still the case during the BRAC years in the 90s?

I was enlisted, so I can't really comment on officers but whole divisions and posts were being decommissioned left and right, and NCOs were being forced out. It seems like there would have been a glut of officers too.

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It's a movie. A work of fiction. A comedy. I don't think the writers and directors were shooting for anything more. Just watch and enjoy.

FYI...I served in the 90s and there was many enlisted and officers getting "early-outs" due to realignment and decommissioning. Many went into National Guard/Reserves.

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This was a comedy? Huh, I thought this was a documentary. ;)

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"they" can discharge you anytime they want. and there is an "up or out rule". Major is one of those ranks that people stall at and house cleaning happened a lot.

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