Reverse alchemy

It's now been 18 months since I pinned on the gold bars of a second lieutenant; I'm now a first lieutenant.
I wouldn't say it's a glorious promotion; I think about 99 percent make the cut. You pretty much have to do something criminal to get passed over. In reality, it's not even until you come up for major (about ten years in) that things start to get tight, but even then (according to this report), it's not too bad.

If I remember right, the whole point of medieval alchemy was to turn lead into gold. In a sense, the Army turns gold into coal....