It has always been a long standing "belief" that the masons were heavily involved in the military. To get promoted beyond the rank of E6 you have to have an official photo in your file. The legend says if you made a certain gesture with your hand or some other crap you were a shoe in. Problem with that is there is only 1 way to stand at attention.
Thank goodness it wasn't that way when I was in the Air Force. I retired as a E-8. Had a photo been in my records, I probably wouldn't have made E-7.
