Is this guy typical?

In a newspaper story in the Boston Globe about a soldier who had a website that provided answers for Army correspondence courses (needed for promotion) the accused soldier says some things that I find it hard to believe that a soldier really thinks.

When he was stationed in Korea he had a run-in with a platoon leader that caused him to get Article 15 punishement which included a reduction in rank from E5 (Sargeant) to E4 (Specialist 4). Then when he was later transfered back to the States, he put his Sargeant strips back on and got in trouble for that. He explains

At Fort Campbell, his troubles continued. He was charged with "impersonating a noncommissioned officer," he said, after putting his sergeant's stripes back on. He contends he wasn't aware that his punishment in South Korea carried over.

How in the hell somebody that stupid ever made Sargeant in the first place is a mystery for the ages.