just another possible perspective, but, i think it was intended to mean as one with that rank, he enjoyed the ability to do some things because folks respected his rank and took into consideration that he'd shown a career's worth of judgment, which they -might- consider that when looking to discipline him about it if he got caught. whereas they would flat out just fry the more junior guys. or the j.o.'s.
having said that, i do believe she researches pretty well. particularly considering some of the other, ahem, authors [and in the cases i'm thinking i use that term loosely] who 'write' about the military. again, -no one- is on par with suz or cathy in that regard!
and remember knowing how to research all that military stuff was a long process for even suz - initially she got many of the ranks and other military details wrong for the guys in her early SEAL books!
what i think melton may have also been thinking about is how special all E-9s are regardless of which service you're talking. basically, the services are restricted to having only 1% of their total enlisted force in that grade. it really does take a lot to reach the pinnacle of being the top 1% of the force! and commensurate with that is the fact that it IS the only enlisted grade where the -president- signs the orders promoting them, like he does for all officer promotions.
so maybe she was mixing metaphors of sort!
:-D
michelle g