... and you signed up for a longer stint.
I came in as a submarine sonar tech, which was a 6 year deal to compensate for nearly two years of schooling. At the time, I expected to make a 30-year career out of it. Advancement was difficult because of so many sonar techs that made E-4 upon completion of A-school and then re-enlisting to get E-5 from the STAR program (promise 6 years from date of re-enlistment and get E-5, a cash bonus, and an advanced sonar C-school). Since I STARed exactly on my 2 year anniversary, I only added 2 years, which would give me exactly 8 years... the magic number for not getting called back after being discharged. Doing so also gave me the opportunity to make E-6, which I did in almost record time at 5 years into my enlistment. I was supposed to test for E-7, but I refused to waste my time since I was getting out in a few months. My CO agreed with me and waived the requirement for me to take the test.
So, the ceremony sucked compared to people that get to go for incentive rides, but the money was great. I never got the extra school because the ship I was on required Top Secret clearances which made me ineligible for leaving the ship to go to school. That's ok, the school didn't count for anything in the real world because of its Secret classification. I also made a lot more money staying at sea for the rest of my enlistment on a 2nd submarine, which was stationed in my all-time favorite duty station: San Diego.
But if I hadn't been so unimaginative, I could have had all that, and an incentive ride
