Considering Rust’s personality in 1995 to present day, what do you think he was like as a rookie cop?

I understand that these detective characters were made in a vacuum as if they had always been hard boiled detectives.

But if you were to suspend disbelief, how do y’all think Rust Cohle was like as a rookie patrol officer? A detective position is a promotion and a reassignment. Undercover work isn’t a promotion but it is a division assignment as well.

At the beginning of the series he had just made detective and reassigned to Louisiana CID. There are some vague moments in which he was changed by the death of his daughter and his fuck up in the undercover division, putting him in deep cover for four years, and spending time in a psychiatric hospital after his undercover work was done and he was shot.

But who do you think Rust was as a rookie? Did he keep his nihilism to himself more when he was younger or do you think he changed his entire thinking into nihilism over time, going through these experiences?