Talk:John Kizirian

Army Commission?

When and/or how did he become commissioned as an Officer in the Army as opposed to an NCO? That should be added to the article (or am I just overlooking that info somewhere?). Gecko G (talk) 21:54, 4 May 2014 (UTC)

@Gecko G: Good point. Turns out to be 1949. I just added it. Étienne Dolet (talk) 04:02, 5 May 2014 (UTC)

sorry, perhaps I wasn't clear. 1949 is when he joined the Army as a Sergeant. When did he change from an enlisted "track" to a Commissioned Officer "track"? In modern militaries, that career trajectory is rare enough to have a special term: he was a "Mustang officer". When and/or how did that come about? In the article he's described as a Sergeant in 1951 and a 1st Lieutenant in a citation in 1953, so if that's correct it was sometime in that time-frame. That's during the Korean war so I wonder if it was a battlefield commissioning?

If you're unfamiliar with the terminology and distinctions (which generally few outside the military are) I can gladly try to expand and explain (either on your talk page or via email) if you like? Gecko G (talk) 08:19, 5 May 2014 (UTC)

@Gecko G: Oh, I see now. Well unfortunately the Demirjian source, which I think would have the answer, is not in my possession as of now so I don't think I can provide that clarification for you at the moment. Perhaps we can stumble upon the answer elsewhere. Sadly to say, this article was rushed and not as complete as my other WWII articles (i.e. George Juskalian, Victor Maghakian). It still needs a lot of work. Étienne Dolet (talk) 18:31, 5 May 2014 (UTC)

Étienne, from those two you linked to, it looks like Maghakian was also a Mustang - and from just a quick skim it doesn't look like it say's how nor when for him either.

Also, for both of them it looks like the awards are in the wrong precedence order - I can see about fixing that part, unless you or someone else doesn't beat me to it (I'll have to refresh my memory on some of the Army differences from the general order first). Cheers, Gecko G (talk) 22:36, 5 May 2014 (UTC)

@Gecko G: Sure, I'm fine with the reordering per precedence. Étienne Dolet (talk) 23:58, 5 May 2014 (UTC)

 Done. The Army has some differences that have surprised me in the past, so hopefully the one for George Juskalian is correct. You might want to double check to make sure he does have that Republic of Korea War Service Medal. For Victor Maghakian, since he was last in the service in the 40s, I used the pre 1985 precedence for the Purple Heart rather than the modern precedence. Cheers, Gecko G (talk) 02:57, 6 May 2014 (UTC)