After 15 combined years of service, two officers became corporals on Friday.

After over 5000 hours on the streets of Dothan, Police Officers Arthur Schaefer and Brian Smith will finally achieve the rank of corporal effective on Friday morning.

That is something the police department is used to, but it’s still special every time it happens.

Dothan Police Dept. Chief John Powell said, "Promotions are difficult, not only on the persons being promoted, but on the staff as well because we have to make decisions for who's going to be promoted."

Schaefer sees this promotion three months after his run in with Andrevis Davis at a Hobo Pantry where Schaefer took a gunshot to the face, inches away from taking his life and never reaching his new rank, and possibly even more.

“Along with that rank comes additional responsibilities that he will carry with him, [to] try to help him position better, to test in the future for a sergeant’s position," Chief Powell added.

The now Corporal Smith thinks about his time as a young officer and the message he would like to provide other, newer arrivals to the force in the years to come. “Be diligent, patient and do the best that you can,” he says. “Make sure that you serve your community, your families and your fellow police officers and be diligent in your work."

Diligence is something that these two men have shown over years of service, and as the rest of the police department hopes for in the future.