Why weren't they promted at all during the war?
Winters started as private, ended up as Major in less than 4 years
Nixon started as Lt, ended up as Captain
Speirs started as private, ended up as Lt Cnel
Lipton made it to Lt !
so why weren't Strayer and Sink promoted? Were they idiots or something?
err. Winters is a 2nd Lieutenant who gets promoted to 1st Lieutenant in Ep1 itself. From there he is made Capt and Major later.
Usually promotions happen much quicker in combat duty than anywhere else. (obvious factors like people dying and posts opening as well as for good performance and morale related promotions !?)
Col. Sink and Strayer were already at a high enough post when the war began, (2 above Major) while also being posts which are usually not in "actual" combat although on the field. - so it would be hard to get promoted from Colonel to a 1 star General (Brigadier) - the next level- in any case.
Other more military savvy folks can probably clarify this as well.
edit: also Speirs was a Lt when we first see him and ends BoB as a Lt commanding E Company? Where the hell did you get the Lt Colonel from? That would make him Winter's boss !!
Lipton is a Sergeant and becomes a Lt - just a sing (I don't remember this well tbh)
edit: also Speirs was a Lt when we first see him and ends BoB as a Lt commanding E Company? Where the hell did you get the Lt Colonel from? That would make him Winter's boss !!
I don't think that's what he meant.
Just checked, that Col Sink retired as a Lt General.
That would make his original question pointless unless he meant rank during BoB or ww2.
no no no.
I meant, yes Winters, Nixon and Speirs got promoted like 4 ranks in 1 year.
Sink got stuck at Cnel, and Strayer couldn't get past MAJOR. And Sink and Major were their bosses!!! so what happened??
did they get screwed?
Like others have said I'm not sure where you get the idea Winters, Spiers and Nixon got promoted 4 ranks in 1 year
Winters gets promoted up 2 ranks in a year... He was a 1st Lt and Easy Co XO on D-Day and finished the war as a Major and 2nd Battlion CO.
Spiers goes from 1st Lt to Capt (1 promotion) in same time frame (eventually he did make Lt Col. but that was years after the war ended).
Nixon also goes from being 1st Lt to Capt in the same time (although actually "demoted" from 506th Rgt Intelligence Off to 2nd Battlion Ops Off).
As for Strayer he is promoted from Major to Lt. Col during the course of the war and goes from 2nd Battion CO (Winters replaces him) to 506th XO. Also apparently Sink was offered a promotion to Gen during the war but turned it down as it would mean losing command of the 506th... he did retire a Lt Gen after the War.
Winters went from 2nd lieutenant to 1st lieutenant in training camp, then Captain in Normandy, then Major. It was 3 promotions (4 ranks) in 2 years.
shareNo, they did not "get screwed".
As one of the other posters noted, promotions come quickly in wartime. I'll add, particularly at lower ranks. Think about it--there is higher turnover at lower commissioned ranks and in the non-commissioned ranks. That is due primarily to their exposure in combat.
Col. Sink commanded a regiment throughout the war. That is a pretty high rank, but unless a new formation is created--a new division, at least, or unless someone at the division level or higher gets promoted or retires, he has nowhere to go.
Major Strayer commanded one of the battalions that made up the regiment. Again, there wasn't as much opportunity to promote him, till a new unit might be formed.
On the other hand, Lt. Winters was promoted de facto on D-Day, when Lt. Meehan was killed over the drop zone. From there, Winters' skill and excellence made him stand out, and he was promoted as other positions in the battalion hierarchy were opened.
As for Spiers, he was promoted to captain by the end of the war, and he went on to serve in Korea, and by the end of his career, he reached lieutenant colonel, serving in a post of some prestige, as the commandant of Spandau prison, in charge of the Germans sentenced for war crimes by the Nuremberg tribunal, as well as those sentenced by lesser tribunals.
As another poster noted, Sink was promoted after the war and ended up as a general.
No one got screwed. These men all got rewards commensurate with their abilities.
The bigger the government, the smaller the citizen.
I think that's unfair.
If I would have been Strayer, I would have been like
"YO SINK! I was major before them 506 idiots even were Lieutents, and here I am it's the end of the war and I'm STILL MAJOR?! Here are your stupid wings! I'm applying for a janitor job back at Altos Hornos de Mexico
There aren't many officers above Colonel, and few of the the generals die in combat.
Lieutenants and captains had a high mortality rate.
And Winters was clearly a special type of leader, cool and calm under fire, motivating and inspiring his men without mistreating them, and improvising winning tactics against superior forces (one squad capturing 3 guns manned by a full platoon of Germans, then later one platoon capturing 2 companies of elite SS troops.)
And Nixon was from a wealthy family and went to Yale and had combat experience.
And Speirs was the baddest dude in the whole friggin' Army.