[arethuza]

The military historian Richard Holmes pointed out in one of his books that at the height of UK imperial power someone managed to rise from private soldier to Field Marshall and Chief of the Imperial General Staff and that apparently today an equivalent rise would be impossible:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_William_Robertson,_1st_Bar...

[cafard]

James Gavin made it from private soldier to Lieutenant General from 1924 to 1958.

John Vessey enlisted in the Minnesota National Guard in 1939, and became Chief of Staff of the US Army in 1982.

[psunavy03]

Absolutely untrue, at least in a US context. Michael Boorda rose from the bottom of the enlisted ranks to become Chief of Naval Operations in the 1990s.

[ywvcbk]

> that apparently today an equivalent rise would be impossible

There is still a pathway for enlisted servicemen to become officers in the British army. So technically it should be possible?