No disrespect meant toward those that stayed in as an E-5-that was not the point! I too enjoyed my time as an E-5, my point was that no matter what your job is-military or civilian it is all easy to stuck in a job with no chance of promotion, be unhappy with it and 30 years later. wake up and wonder why you never left and did wanted you too. The main point being-you only have one life to live so you had better enjoy it and not spend your life sorry about what you didn't do!
For many in the military it is easy to get frozen in a job and grade with no hope of advancement and have 10 0r 15 years to go for retirement and the decision to go or stay for allot of reasons is for many a hard one. I went in thinking about making it a career,and promotion to E-6 was there for me, but any further advancement could be difficult and at the time, getting out and going back to college was my way---again many people stayed in as E-5's, 6's or what ever and without them there would be no military! Even today, I sometimes wonder if I made the right choice, but I'm happy with what I did!
Smoke