there is not a single line of promotion... and it not uncommon for promotion to "stall" if there is not any assignment in a combat area in your file for officers. And being passed over for promotion is a sure ticket out of the running, especially during a prolonged period of peacetime service.

I can only speak for the US and based upon my brother's experience in the first Desert Storm... and in the Vietnam war, you got higher pay just for being in a war theater, even if not in actual combat.

There are still plenty of inequities in the military and the lower ranks bear the brunt of most of them.