Being busted Down

I know for a fact in the Australian Army it's definitely possible to be busted down multiple ranks. A colleague of mine (actually he was a bit of a mentor figure) is a bit old school and is thus regarded as something of a loose cannon by some more regimental types... he avoided being busted from Corporal to Trooper (i.e. Private) on a legal technicality, but at the time I reckon he deserved everything he got. :)

I've also seen a medic promoted from Private to Corporal in the one bound (although she had all her courses completed, including promotion courses).

Of course it's also possible to be reduced in rank for administrative reasons. If you transfer Corps (Say go from being a Corporal in the Infantry to being a Trooper in Armoured), or if you transfer from Reserves to Regulars, there's usually a rank reduction involved (not counting all-corps postings etc). Needless to say if you go SF and you're an NCO you're usually looking at saying goodbye to your rank in that instance there as well, although that's a very different ballgame and one I'm not willing (or qualified) to talk too much about.
 
In Denmark you do not lose rank if you switch to another unit even if entering SF

In the Danish special forces, rank means nothing. The person who has the most experience is as a rule the one who is in command of the team. The Danish Navy SEALs bears no rank insignias on daily uniforms.
 
I never had that trouble being a confirmed private....But I have known blokes go from a SNCO straight to Officer Rank on a field promotion
 
Very recently an Army CSM (E-9) was reduced to SSG (E-6) and forced to retire, among other things he had falsified his records to obtain promotion.
 
As I remember, regarding British forces, all promotions were to an acting/rank initially for all NCOs; the Commanding Officer could demote these as he saw fit through his official recorded daily Orders.

However, from full corporal & upwards, if a promotion came to someone who already held the necessary educational qualifications etc. required, then that promotion became an established 'Substantive' rank, which I understood required courts -martial to remove.

With Officers the usual punishment for routine offences was loss of seniority; this was painful because being moved back a year, for example, put them well behind their class in the promotion stakes. The pyramid is steep and there is only one Commanding Officer to some 700-1000 strong Battalion, Lt. Col.
Tough going getting to there.
 
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