The Alliance & Ashley's Dad
Holy shit, they never promoted him.
During dialogue with Ashley in ME1, she'll gradually open up about her family - including her grandfather's great (perceived) shame of being the first human to surrender to an alien, and that the Alliance has held it against the Williams for two generations.
Eventually, Ashley will casually drop that her dad never made it above Serviceman Third Class. Which, if you don't read the codex or don't get the military, hey, "three is bigger than one right?"
Enlisted class count down to "First" with promotions, not up (in both the real world and in the Alliance). Private/Serviceman First Class is the last rank before Specialist/Corporal, etc...and in the Codex, there's a table with Alliance ranks from lowest to highest. Look what the first one - the lowest in the entire service is: Serviceman 3rd Class
"But okay, he never got promoted. We get that, but why is that THAT terrible?"
He was a CAREER soldier. Decades.
Do you know what you need to do to earn your first three promotions as an enlisted member of the United States Armed Forces? Run out the clock. That's it. Promotions from E-1 to E-4 (ranks vary by branch) are largely TIME-based. There are ways you can speed up (or occasionally slow) the clock, but if you don't muster out, you WILL make E-4. And not over twenty years - closer to 2-3 years.
Even militaries that don't have formalized auto-advancement will at least usually give the folks who stick it out a token promotion or two.
...Serviceman Third Class Williams entered the Alliance at the lowest enlisted rank, never once got a single promotion, and had to raise a family on the lowest pay.
No fucking wonder he was so delighted when his daughter became an NCO (Chief)
We hear multiple times that Ashley's service record is spotless, her test scores exemplary, and numerous positive remarks left by those who served with her. But her career pre-Shepard is ploddingly slow. She's denied leadership positions right up until Eden Prime. It's taken her seven years of being one of the best Marines in the entire Alliance to make it to Gunnery Chief, the middle of the NCO ranks. She's THAT undeniable even when the Alliance still has it out THAT much for her.
What a badass. And the best is to come. By ME3 if she's alive? A full blown Lieutenant Commander (the same rank Shepard starts ME1 at) and the second ever human Spectre.
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