(Sorry to be behind on trying to match the “50 years ago” timeframe. As are many of you, I expect, I’m a little discombobulated about the pandemic, lockdown, economic disaster we’re experiencing. But in Biddle tradition, I will try to “charge hard.”)
You can tell something is significant when you advance to a “junior grade.” On February 14, 1970, I received a “temporary” appointment to the grade of lieutenant (junior grade). The NAVPERS 1421/2 form was signed by CAPT Olsen.
As the form shows, I acknowledged receipt of notice of said appointment and, in what I consider now a very passive response (but the only one available), I signed off on “I do not decline this appointment.”
I had been commissioned an Ensign on February 14, 1969, so getting a promotion after only a year in grade must have meant I had done a good job. Nah, this was pretty much a done deal for all Ensigns at the time (I think time-in-grade for Ensigns now is two years). One year then without major screwing up and you got the promotion.
Not only did I finally outrank one officer onboard (Mr. Graham, but only briefly), but my paycheck grew by 16 percent. As a JG, I would make each month for the next few months (until the new pay scale in July), $449.70 a month (worth about $3,050 in today’s money).
LTJG would be the highest rank I reached on active duty, so this was a pretty major step . . . in a minor way.