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Sergeant Major for Marco A Bridge Too Far

posted 8 years ago by johnharoldhopkins
8 replies | jump to latest

It was an unnecessary complication to make Marco formally a Sergeant Major when serving in tanks. He would have had to be a good deal older to be credible as a former SM. The platoon sergeant would typically be a staff sergeant or maybe even a first sergeant. Either would fit the character's timeline better.

E9, then a private investigator, then the bar. The actor was born in 1975. Movie released January 2016. Just not time to fit it all in. The actor is still a good deal younger than Brooke Shields.

[–] johnharoldhopkins 8 years ago

Meant Sergeant First Class not First Sergeant.

[–] Jaouad-El 8 years ago

Although I live in America I still don't know that much about USA's army ranking because I was born and raised in an other country.
My question is : isn't there different academies with different ranking system? I mean in my country there's ones when you get short time learning system (Enlisted) and there students are promoted without a rank "Soldat(Private) second class", then there is the non-commissioned officers the ones promoted as "Sergeant", and then there is the officers academy promotes as "Lieutenant".
What I'm trying to say that it's easier to go from Sergeant to Sergeant Major than to go from Enlisted to Sergeant Major.

[–] johnharoldhopkins 8 years ago

Sergeant and Sergeant major are both enlisted. It takes a long time and distinguished sevice to become a Sergeant Major.

[–] Jaouad-El 8 years ago

I did some research and I found this: In the United States Army, United States Air Force, and United States Marine Corps, all ranks of sergeant are termed NCOs, as are corporals in the Army and Marine Corps. A Marine Corps lance corporal (E-3) is not an NCO, but rather junior enlisted.
And I found that there is NCO academies in the US and you don't have to start a career as Private to be Sergeant.
So even if they are technically Enlisted, they can start a career by skipping the ranks(E1..E3) if you have a college degree.

[–] nlualum82 8 years ago

For things to be accurate he wasn't in a tank unit, just happened to be standing near one when the picture was taken.
He says he was in the 2/75 Ranger Bn.
Still a bit young, but the best make rank fast there during a war.
I was on the compound in 2004 for a reunion and met a major who looked like a college kid.
Even in peacetime it is not unheard of to go from E1 to E5 in less than 2 years.

[–] darkavenger77 8 years ago

E9, then a private investigator, then the bar. The actor was born in 1975. Movie released January 2016. Just not time to fit it all in. The actor is still a good deal younger than Brooke Shields.

Good post. I looked it up, and the actor would have been like 15 at the time of the first gulf war for which the character supposedly served. There is a 10 year age gap between him and Shields, which is not that big of a deal for a relationship, but as you noted he's way too young to have done what the character was supposed to have done.

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[–] johnharoldhopkins 8 years ago

The thing is that the writer could have created a credible timeline for the character with just A FEW MINUTES of research.

For a novel that I have on Amazon and B&N, but will not link here for fear of being labled a spammer, I researched everything down to the elements in key relevant molecules. It is part of the process. I have info in my files for the area my characters are from back 2000 years before they lived there.

[–] ccorraliza 8 years ago

I think it was to show he was Brooke's age rather than 10 years younger as the actual actor is than BS. So if born in 1965 he would be of appropriate age for what he says. He does look older than 40 to me if using his correct birth year of 1975.