I-FORD
Agreed, which is why I said:
The British Army (or RAF or Royal Navy) don't promote on length of service (with a few exceptions),
In the British Armed Forces, Officers will
generally promote to Lt (RN), Major and Flt Lt respectively on time served. But beyond that, promotion is based on merit and is very competitive and in my opinion, that competition promotes hard work and higher standards.
It's interesting that many contributors to this thread have equated accelerated promotion with brown nosing. In my experience most brown nosers get found out very early, not least because they act in this way to cover up their inadequacies in other areas. They don't normally experience much beyond mediocre success.