Mr Olmert served as a military reporter, and got his low officer's rank only as a reservist.

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Despite the fact that doctors at Fort Carson diagnosed Talley with chronic PTSD and depression, his commanding officers charged him with a military crime and demoted him in rank.

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In the military culture, which places a premium on rank in decision making, many senior officers and their inner circles of aides do not bother to seek or follow the advice of more junior public affairs officers, despite their education, experience and training.

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The question is: Will rank insubordination on a scale arguably not seen in a military commander since MacArthur faded away nearly six decades ago be rewarded by still higher office?

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From there, Mr. Ren was promoted to Technician, Engineer and Deputy Director, a deputy-regimental-chief-equivalent professional role that had no military rank.

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In 1894, Captain Alfred Dreyfus was secretly arrested, wrongfully convicted by a court martial of high treason, sentenced to life imprisonment, stripped of his military rank and shipped off in chains to solitary confinement in the sweltering heat of Devil's Island, a French territory off the coast of South America.

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