Be thankful that another regiment took members that it did. They would undoubtedly have become a slowly festering mold, corroding your regiment from the inside over time.
You only want members who are there because they enjoy your company and are having fun, not because they aspire to 2nd in command within 5 minutes of joining.
+1
If people play this game to achieve a high rank rather than playing in the regiment with a nice atmosphere, then they are not very clever. After all it's just a game and at the end of the day it's about enjoying the game you play, rather than "achieve" a high rank in a gaming community. Having a high rank does not necessarily mean that you will enjoy the game more, and everyone who got experience with this knows it. It's all about the people in the regiment that decides if you will enjoy the game or not. And if people leaves your regiment to get a higher rank in another then you don't really want them in your regiment in the first place.
I am not defending the 99th whatsoever, in a matter of fact I think it's very bad behaviour to try to lure people to join you by offering them a good rank. A good regiment don't give out instant high ranks, take that as something positive, it's usually bad regiments in all categories. Which often ends up disbanding, offering members an instant high rank is a desperate way of trying to get more members. Regiments that does this are not stable at all. Good luck with the 56e and I hope that no more of your members leave :-)