Randy1083 wrote...
Ashley probably enlisted right out of high school, so I doubt she went to college. Her favorite class in high school was probably related to English lit (or whatever its equivalent would be in the late 22nd century), like you suggested.
Being a non-commissionned officer (private to chief warrant officer) strongly suggests she enlisted out of high school. That's assuming the Alliance military ranks loosely correspond to canadian or american armed forces. Commissionned officers (Lieutenant to General) are typically graduates from a military college (like West Point in the US or Kingston in Canada). NCO's may apply for a commission at some point in their carreer but that typically requires going back to college and lieutenants often earn less than a warrant officer.
Ashley's attitude is definitely more rank and file than that of a commissionned officer. She uses rank and file expressions like "L-T" when talking to Kaidan in an informal discussion. She's direct, outspoken and uncompromising, which pisses off some people. Me, I like her for it. Ash was colony bound her whole carreer, with little or no contacts with aliens ("...just what they show you in the vids."). Compare her attitude with that of Rear Admiral Mikhailovich and Admiral Ahern and you'll find that her distrust of aliens is pretty much the norm among Alliance military personel.
Kaiden is also nicely rendered as a junior officer. He's more educated, diplomatic and is more comfortable around aliens than Ash, mostly because he's ship crew and has had plenty of opportunities to meet aliens prior to ME1.