Not really sure about that. I volunteered for any duty or extra job that came along and was a pretty gung-ho squared away Marine. As a result, I was promoted to E-5 after just 2yr, 5mos and 19 days. That made the last 2.5 years of my five year hitch pay more than my contemporaries who barely made E-4 before they got out. On top of that, the increased rank allowed me to learn to be a better leader. That training has kept me in a leadership role my whole working career.
So, volunteering was the key to any minimal success I have enjoyed in life. It has paid me pretty handsomely I feel, if not monetarily, at least in self esteem.
Please do not take my comments as an attack on you personally JB. It is more of a general railing against those who give less than their very best and miss out on the rewards of a hard job done well.
As an addendum to your discussion of knowing the same people and it being a small Corps, have you seen this site? It is dedicated to keeping Marines in touch or finding each other. As well as telling some interesting stories about our brothers in arms from both current and past.
https://marines.togetherweserved.com...pp?cmd=Landing
Carry on Marines.