Came here to say exactly this! Because the terms of your first enlistment longer apply when you receive a battlefield commission. You have finished out your first contract (in a manner of speaking) and are entering a new one.
Lina Distadio
2023-06-07 04:01:31 +0000 UTC
Graduating West Point you become an officer, which is higher rank than enlisted. Having a college degree is one of the requirements, among other things, to be an officer.
Lipton is not leaving, he got honorably discharged as an enlisted soldier and then got commissioned as an officer. so for about 10 seconds during that process he was technically a civilian. That's just the process. Same thing happens when you reenlist.