Hi,
My wife and I are trying to get some information about her father who has 2 bronze stars. His rank is PFC(T). What does the (T) stand for? Thank you for your time.

quote:

Originally posted by pagano1957:
...His rank is PFC(T). What does the (T) stand for?

That (T) stands for "temporary." The Army distinguished between temporary (T) and permanent (P) rank, which had a whole lot to do with Army bureaucracy and almost nothing to do with the soldier himself. He was promoted from Private (P)(as the lowest enlisted rank, there were no "temporary" Privates) to Private First Class (T) and after the passage of a certain amount of time with good service, he was administratively "advanced" to permanent status (P), until he was promoted to the next higher temporary rank (T) or reduced to a lower temporary rank (T) or to his highest permanent rank (P). Is that all clear? In the meantime, he wore the single chevron of the PFC and received the pay and allowances of PFC whether he was (T) or (P). This paper drill wasn't confined to the lower ranks. My uncle was a career soldier and Korean War vet. He was promoted to Technical Sergeant in July 1947, laterally converted to Sergeant First Class in August 1948, and promoted to Master Sergeant in October 1950. His service record shows eight entries changing his status from (T) to (P) and back again during that period. This was the kind of work that kept Army clerks busy in the "Old Army." Computers probably do it now.

thank you for the info.

Just to add some information of the enlisted rank structure from 1948 to 1955:

Grade 1 Master Sergeant (3 up, 3 down) and First Sergeant (3 up, 3 down with lozenge)

Grade 2 Technical Sergeant (3 up, 2 down)

Grade 3 Sergeant (3 up, 1 down)

Grade 4 Corporal (2 up)

Grade 5 Private First Class (1 up)

Grade 6 Private (Grade 2) (no stripes)

Grade 7 Private (Recruit) (no stripes)

NOTE that the numbering structure is inverted compared to what we have today. And also note that the rank of Staff Sergeant in not present, but the rank insignia we, today, associate with it is worn by the buck Sergeant. This change was made on 7 July 1948. Also note that the rank of Technicians (Corporal "T" or Sergeant "T") was deleted.

The size of the chevrons was only 2 inches wide, and the colors were gold stripes (and lozenge) on a blue gackground for combat personnel, and blue stripes (and lozenge) on gold background for noncombat personnel.

In 1951, the size of the insignia was return to the earlier 3-1/8 inch wide type for male personnel and remained the same size for females. The color was standardized to olive-drad stripes on a blue background.

The pay grade structure was inverted in 1951 so the Grade 7 became E-1 and Grade 1 became E-7.

It wasn't until after the Korean War that any other changes were made the the enlisted rank/paygrade structure.

The reason for the use of 'temporary' promotions was based on the Army's need for expansion in war time. For every major conflict, we've added the Reserves and Guard and, in some instances, draftees to augment the Regular Army and created what was termed 'the Army of the United States'. Once the war's over, we send the resrve components home and generally allow attrition to deal with the remainder. If, however, Congress dictated a lower end-strength than could be accomplished through attrition, they implemented a 'Reduction-in Force" (RIF). One of the methods used to keep the force from being 'top heavy' was to require folks to return to their 'permanent rank' (Patton was promoted to COL during WWI, but reverted to CPT at the end of the war). The Army finally did away with the 'Temporary Promotion' for enlisted folks in the early '70s (If I remember correctly) as the last enlisted 'RIF' occurred in 1922.

I was amazed to see the Army actually did not have a 3-strip sergeant for the entire Korean War… The creation of the Air Force really must have befuddled the DOD for a while…

On a somewhat related topic, an Army friend tells me that an Army officer has what he termed a permanent rank, such that a lieutenant when commissioned would have a permanent rank of E-5, etc. I have never head of such a thing and cannot find anything comparable in the Marines. Does anyone know about such things?

quote:

Originally posted by Thompson_AllenB:
I was amazed to see the Army actually did not have a 3-strip sergeant for the entire Korean War… The creation of the Air Force really must have befuddled the DOD for a while…

On a somewhat related topic, an Army friend tells me that an Army officer has what he termed a permanent rank, such that a lieutenant when commissioned would have a permanent rank of E-5, etc. I have never head of such a thing and cannot find anything comparable in the Marines. Does anyone know about such things?

Realize, first, that I've been out of the personnel loop for a while (retired in '93). I believe what your friend is referring to is the statutory right of an officer commissioned through OCS to revert to his highest enlisted rank if he's subsequently "RIF'ed".

When an enlisted soldier is accepted for OCS, he or she is promoted to grade E-5 regardless of current rank unless already serving in a higher grade. Upon completion of OCS, the soldier is discharged in that rank and commissioned as a 2LT in the Reserve with concurrent active duty.

E.G., I was promoted from PV2/E-2 to SP5/E-5 on 9 Sep 67 when I entered class 502-B, US Army Engineer Officer Candidate Regiment at Ft Belvoir, VA. Unwilling to give the Army an additional year to complete two years' commissioned service, I resigned from OCS in my 20th week and was subsequently reduced to PFC/E-3 for 'failure to complete training.'

"Stuff happens", and I decided to stay in. Of all my classmates, I only knew of 2 still serving as Officers in 1972, and both had received their 'RIF' letters. Their options were (1) take the money and run ($15,000 severance), or (2) revert to SGT.

While in charge of the Separations Section for the 1st Cav Div at Ft hood, I actually had to outprocess my Company Commander (CPT, Field Artillery) and send him on his way to Ft Bliss, TX as a SGT. Also lost two OICs, both CPTs for the same reason - they took the money. All three had 2 things in common: commissioned through OCS, and served as 'rotor heads' outside of their Basic Branches. When the Army downsized after Vietnam, the various branches seemed pretty parochial in deciding who stayed on Active Duty. Quite a few commissioned pilots got their walking papers.

Good explanation, FBoehm. I believe it basically worked the same way after WWII and the Korean War as well. After Vietnam I saw many colleagues and some good friends fall to the RIF but that's the way it was and we all knew the score before we exchanged our stripes for bars.

Wailuna-

Based on everything I heard from the 'Old Army' types after they shanghaied me into personnel, it worked pretty much the same for officers in both WWII and Korea. Saw a lot of talent sent home.

Those that stayed presented a real challenge for us personnel weenies, because there are a lot of rules applicable only to them. If the officer had acquired 'tenure' (10 years' commissioned service), it added even another dimension. Enlisted promotion eligibility and rank upon retirement were unfamiliar territory for most folks dealing with them.