Promoted in IRR, and it feels wrong
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  1. #1

    Promoted in IRR, and it feels wrong

    I left active duty in 2015 as a Sergeant with a little over 3 years TIG, and I was recently promoted to Staff Sergeant in the IRR. It seems strange to refer to myself as a Staff Sergeant --not that I do this often-- but sometimes people ask "Hey what is/was your rank in the Marines?" It feels wrong to me to say "I'm a Staff Sergeant" considering I don't really feel like I earned it. Anybody have this experience? What's your opinion on the whole IRR promotion thing?

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  2. #2
    you earned your rank whether it be IRR or full Active Duty, that is a great accomplishment, don't ever forget that,,

    Congratulations SSgt. Simper Fi..


  3. #3
    Will you change the chevrons on all your shirts/blouses?


  4. #4
    I picked up Sgt in the IRR, about a month after EAS. Like you, I felt pretty weird about it. A few months later I went to the birthday ball for my old unit. I posed this question to my former Plt Sgt who is the epitome of what I consider an excellent Marine to be. His answer was to tell me if I showed up to the ball in blues and wasn't wearing Sgt chevrons he'd be p!ssed at me for being out of uniform. He said "you did a Sgt's job ten times over when we were in, you rate that sh!t and then some". That alleviated any awkwardness for me.


  5. #5
    Joe, you earned the rocker - I was a reservist my whole time, didn't ever get promoted while in IRR, but I had the same feelings for a long time. "Oh, you're/were are Marine? Yeah, but I was just a Peacetime Part-timer" eventually turned into "Oh you were/are a Marine? Yep."

    You're a SSgt now, brother, no worries.

    s/f


  6. #6
    OUTSTANDING Job, Staff Sergeant of MARINES.... consider it an incentive to stick around long enough to pin on a few more, and retire....


  7. #7
    Marine Free Member gkmoz's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by oldtop View Post
    OUTSTANDING Job, Staff Sergeant of MARINES.... consider it an incentive to stick around long enough to pin on a few more, and retire....



  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by Tennessee Top View Post
    Will you change the chevrons on all your shirts/blouses?
    Good question. I'm not sure if I'll spend the time/money to do so. I don't really have plans to wear the uniform again, unless called up from the IRR. I work as a contractor for the *bleh* Army, but I figured I'll probably wear mini-medals and a tuxedo to any formal military events.

    Quote Originally Posted by oldtop View Post
    OUTSTANDING Job, Staff Sergeant of MARINES.... consider it an incentive to stick around long enough to pin on a few more, and retire....
    Thanks, Top!

    Quote Originally Posted by madsox View Post
    Joe, you earned the rocker...
    You're a SSgt now, brother, no worries.
    Semper Fi, brother. Guess I should change the avatar!


  9. #9
    From what ive been told if you were to come back into the service i dont believe you would rate the rank you were promoted to in the IRR, though i do not speak from experience. Congrats on the promotion though.


  10. #10
    Spent 10 years as a Sgt. That is Buck Sgt, Acting Sgt, Sgt E-5 and then I heard that if you went to D.I. School and became a Drill Instructor you could move up in rank. Finally became a SSgt and then moved up to GySgt. When I enlisted MSgt was the top enlisted rank and when I made GySgt it was the same as the old MSgt so I made my goal. Have been drawing that retirement pay since 1973 and its not overwhelming, but the medical makes up for it. Would do it again in a heartbeat, just not in these days.


  11. #11
    Back in the day I made NCO (Cpl) in 14 months and I felt awkward as I had been in the Nam less than 2 months. We had lost a lot of NCO's the month before.

    About 4-5 months later I became one of the senior NCO's as we had lost a lot more. I had good timing.


  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by MunkyVsRobot View Post
    From what ive been told if you were to come back into the service i dont believe you would rate the rank you were promoted to in the IRR, though i do not speak from experience. Congrats on the promotion though.
    For the most part that information you spoke of is correct...

    If you go into active from Reserve, you will lose 1 rank...



  13. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by FoxtrotOscar View Post
    For the most part that information you spoke of is correct...

    If you go into active from Reserve, you will lose 1 rank...
    That's how I remember it too, except that a Corporal won't be busted to Lance (you stay an NCO, but would lose time in grade).

    I think you used to also keep the SNCO status too, so a GySgt would be "reset" as a SSgt, but a SSgt wouldn't be dropped to E-5. Lose TIG again, but that was many rains ago and I could be wrong to start with...


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