In the scene where Forrest is informed that he is going to recieve the Medal of Honor he is called PFC Gump. Which means Private First Class. But when he recieves the award you can clearly see he has 3 stripes on his left sleeve, meaning that he is a sergeant.
Considering that Forrest is getting the Medal of Honor it is not unreasonable to assume he was given an on-the-spot promotion. It is permissible for an E-1 through E-4 (Private through Specialist/Corporal) to be immediately promoted to E-5 (Sergeant) for exceptional service.
At the time the act was done that awarded him the Medal of Honor, he was a PFC. Awards and decorations take months to write and get presented so it is quit possible he got promoted during that time.
I know that awards and decorations take months to get presented, but a promotion from E-3(PFC) to E-5(SGT) usually takes a few years, not months. So this IS a slip-up.
This movie might actually be accurate. I'm not sure if this is only for the marines or if it is for army as well but all privates have 3 stripes titled upward. A Sargent has the same but with a semi circle at the bottom with a symbol inside of it that tells what kind of Sargent he is. I might be wrong though if i am please tell me. Thank you.
First of all, it was a couple months after he was a PFC, so he could've been promoted twice. Second of all Baseball freak, you got the last 3 right, but private is no stripes and PFC is one stripe.
You've all got it wrong. In the U.S. Army: E1 private has no rank, E2 private has one stripe, E3 is private first class, one stripe and one rocker (rocker is the curved stripe under the private stripe), E4 is a coporal with two stripes and sergeant has three stripes. Anyway, like someone said before, he probably performed the act that won him the medal of honor when he was a PFC and got it when he was a sergeant.
There's no doubt the movie intended for him to be a PFC earlier on. And there is no doubt that by the time he gets out he wears the rank of a Sergeant, for there is never a scene where it shifts back to PFC. As to it being a slip-up, you have no reference of time. I personally went from E-3 to E-5 in a little over 8 months. Getting the Medal of Honor can almost gaurantee a promotion, so if he happend to move up 1 paygrade between his notification and his receipt, he certainly could have ended up a Sergeant. I can't see this as a slip-up. Especially not when you have a common wartime practice of promoting Sergeants to Lieutenants, promoting a hero PFC to Sergeant really isn't a stretch.
zeppwrestler I don't know where you got your info but I was in the marines around this time and a private never had stripes. A private first class had one. A lance corporal had one with crossed rifles underneath, a corporal had two stripes with the crossed rifles and a sergeant has three stripes with the crossed rifles. As far as medals not only can they take months to get, the medal of honor is the highest award possible and it can take months or years
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