Originally Posted by IDukeNukeml
It does not work like that at all.
Go in there, shut your mouth, score High on PT tests and when You know without a shadow of a doubt it is the right thing to do. Do it.
Volunteer to lead PT, Volunteer to do/lead PM's on HMVS (hummers) and any other shit detail and most of all, keep a politically correct bearing at all time. That is the true way to fast rank in the US Army.
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Good stuff CTheRain, congrats on joining. Trust me, you'll have a good time.
Duke is right about promotion speed not being based on the length of your contract. However, there are some other factors to consider. I just finished a 7-year contract in the Army a few months ago, so the regulations and promotion system is fairly fresh in my head.
The first few ranks in either the officer or enlisted route are "gimmes" and you'll get promoted automatically after a set amount of time. As long as you don't mess up in a significant way, you'll go from E-1 to E-4 within 1-2 years, which is a nice bump in pay, at least relative to the bottom of the enlisted pay scale.
Once you hit E-4 (Specialist/Corporal, depending on your MOS), the most significant thing that affects promotion speed is your MOS's current promotion point cutoff. This number fluctuates depending on how many other people are current doing the same job, and what ranks they're current at. So if there are a ton of people current at the rank you're trying to earn, it will be much harder to get there (and require more points). Therefore if you choose a job that's less popular (or more dangerous), the points cutoff will be lower and you'll generally get promoted faster than your peers.
As Duke said, PT score is a big part of how many promotion points you'll end up with, so keep hitting the gym whenever you can, and do sprints and endurance running often. The rest of it is stuff you'll pick up as you go, like extra college credits, various Army schools, weapons training, and stuff like that.
This post has already gone way beyond the TL;DR limit, so PM me if you need any more info or tips.
TL;DR - PM me for more info.
2012-05-04, 01:45 PM
The whole social media thing.
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