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Careers: Military--Army, Navy, Airforce, Marines, Coast Guard/colonel age
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Question
Hi. I have a question for a story I'm writing for school. I have a character who is Colonel in the army. He is supposed to have made this rank at a relatively young age. My question is how old are most people when they make colonel? Thank you so much for your help.
Hi Jennifer,
While it's nice to think someone could make the rank of full-colonel (O-6) at a young age, at a very minimum, it would take 21 years of military service (see my article at: http://usmilitary.about.com/od/promotions/l/blofficerprom.htm).
To even become a military officer takes a minimum of a bachelor's degree. So, unless we're talking about some prodogy who got a bachelor's degree at the age of 18, the normal age for a bachelor's degree is age 22. Add that to the 21 years of military service to be eligible (at the minimum) for Colonel (O-6), your character would be 43, at the least.
Hope this helps!
Rod Powers
http://usmilitary.about.com
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Answers by Expert:
Rod Powers
Expertise
Rod Powers is considered one of the premire experts about U.S. Military career information on the planet. He has more than 30,000 articles about U.S. Military career information on the About.com U.S. Military Careers Information website at: http://usmilitary.about.com. Additionally, he is the author of "ASVAB for Dummies," "ASVAB AFQT for Dummies," (available in Dec 2009), and "Veteran Benefits for Dummies," all published by Wiley Publishing. He is also the author of "Barrons' Guide to Officer Candidate School Tests," published by Barron's Educational Series.
Experience
Rod Powers is a retired Air Force first sergeant, with 23 years of active duty service, 11 of those years as an Air Force First Sergeant. He has helped thousands of military members, recruits, and military applicants since he took over the About.com U.S Military Careers Information site in 1999. He has a reputation for "telling it like it is," so questions may not be answered based on "what you want to hear," but will be answered based of the bast available information, concerning the service/situation.
Education/Credentials
Rod is a distinguished graduate of the Air Force Noncommissioned Officers Academy, the Air Force Senior Noncommissioned Officer Academy, and the Air Force First Sergeant Academy. He also holds an Associates Degree in Personnel Administration from the Community College of the Air Force (CCAF).
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