Unfortunately, this happened about 10 years ago (been out now for 5). However, when I went to the promotion board, originally, they were doing it alphabetic order until it came my turn.

When my turn came, the clerk called the person on the other side of me and I was told that I was last.

When I went in, after I did my customs and curiosities and my facing movements, and sat down, the first question the sergeant major asked was, “So did you tell your first sergeant that you were crazy?”

I was shocked and croaked out, “I thought that was private.” He yelled, “This is the army. Nothing is private. If I give a specialist an order to give up your medical records, your psychological records, or even notes that from a chaplain, you better believe I’ll get them.”

From then on, every thing was a fog. The last thing I heard was, “Not only am I going to refuse this promotion, but he doesn’t belong in my army.” Then looked at my first sergeant and said, “I want you to find a way to get rid of him.”

The first sergeant could find anything. I kept at least the minimum standard on everything. I even found out that the first sergeant came to the company at least twice the last year, I was with that company, to see if the first sergeant found anything to get rid of me.

I did eventually get my stripes, the last year I was in the army. However, it still bothers me. Is this legal?