This is really interesting, I never thought about it affecting maximum rank, but that totally makes sense. I grew up on military bases, and one of my friends had a father who beat his wife, and then after he left his wife, beat his new girlfriend. He remained in the military and as far as I know, never got charged with much. I always thought that was very unjust. But he started out with my dad, I think they were in basic together (Right, Dad? You know who I'm talking about...), and Dad became a senior officer eventually, whereas this guy, I can't recall, but I know his rank was very low and it stayed the same for years. It never occurred to me before though that his low rank might have something to do with his behaviour.