Originally posted by Moxie:
It's that rare nowadays?
I'm inclined to agree with Thoreldan; PFC was also less of a pure promotion & more of an "appointmental " rank in my time. In my case, it was the Arty detachment layers who were - rather quickly - advanced thus, to distinguish them from the rest of the mortarmen (who remained PTE's).
Ultimately, though, there's no permanent distinction since the bulk of the mono-intake conscripts would collectively make LCP before they ORD, & that's the highest rank they could climb to.
During my time (1980s), layers were promoted to LCPs, at least one other gunner in each detachment (at least in my battery) were also promoted to LCP. Therefore, the "rest ... remained PTEs" are not true.
That LCP is the highest rank that conscripts can climb is also untrue. In the first ICT of my former unit, a layer - LCP (a Hokkien peng who could only speak a few words of English), was appointed detachment commander (established rank of SGT) because of a shortage of trained Arty NCOs. Subsequently, the appointment became permanent.