In their own words...

[bobbysocks]

Originally Posted by Korsakov829

Alot of these guys seem to have made it to Colonel late in life. I'm a Major, and only in my early 50s, so either my life is late or they just toss promotions out yearly these days. Hey, if I write a war diary about how we lifted sewer drain grates and ate snails in Grozny, do you think it will be a best seller?

well most of them got the promotions due to an unexpected vacancy...ie the former co was shot down and KIA or POW. kinda puts you on the fast track IF you live so long. a lot of the guys my dad flew with ended up generals or high ranking....but they also started at 18 to 20 years old and had flown in several major conflicts and a few minor ones. as for the catching eating snails from the drains....there is a huge market in the US for "survival cookbooks"...so write away....might make you a top selling author.

[Korsakov829]

In my family history, going back about 6000 years there have only been a few colonels. The whole eating snail things didn't really work out so we just traded with the rebels which, kind of stalled a promotion.