Matt at Blackfive recounts a conversation with a major he had as a young lieutenant:
Me: What have you got to complain about, Sir? You could retire any time.
Major D.: Retire? @#$% you, LT! I’m thirty four years old!!!
He attributes the major’s apparently advanced age to his heavy coffee and cigarette consumption. My guess is it had more to do with Matt’s relative youth than the major’s vices.
My first battery commander (an Army captain) was a Mustang, so much older than the other ones in the batallion. All the LTs, myself most certainly included, teased him about how old he was. He was 34.
Now that I’m 39 and back in a DoD environment, I’m amazed at how young the majors and lieutenant colonels are looking these days. The lieutenants and captains? Babies.
