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How To Get Promoted Fast In The Army

Maybe you’re looking to rank up fast in the United States Army? Well, stick around because I’m hoping to help you accomplish that. What’s up, my friends? I’m US Army veteran Christopher Khaos. And in today’s video, I’m going to tell you about how you can move up and rank faster, at least on the enlisted side. Now, if you’re looking for these videos or tips on the US Army or information about the US Army in general from a veteran like myself, well, then think about hitting that subscribe button if you haven’t already. Also, consider clicking on that bell to get alerts as soon as new videos go live to include the live streams and become a part of that awesome notification platoon. Let’s talk about how you can rank up faster. You need to understand that going from the rank of a private or the pay grade of an E1 to a specialist or the pay grade of an E4 is automatic. Some people would rather not call it a promotion for that reason and prefer the term advancement, but let’s not get picky on the wording here. Each rank has a time and grade and a time and service requirement, meaning a minimum time at that rank and a minimum time in the army.

Those are needed to advance to the next rank, but there are ways that you can advance sooner than that if you can receive a waiver from your leadership. Let’s break down that time and grade and time and service requirements for advancing from a private to a specialist, as well as when you can look to be eligible for promotion waivers. Then I’ll talk about three tips that you can do to be considered for that waiver after I’ve explained the timeline. For those of you looking to go past the rank of specialist and fast track to a noncommissioned officer, well, that’ll have to wait for another video. So if you are starting from the very bottom of the United States Army, then you’re a private or the pay grade of an E1. To then advance to the next rank, which is still addressed as a private but is the pay grade of an E2, you will need to have been in the army for six months to automatically get promoted. If you’re hoping to land that early promotion waiver from your leadership, then you at least need to be in the army for four months to be eligible.

So now you’re an E2 and you have your fancy mosquito wings as we like to call them on your uniform, and you want to add a rocker to that so you can be called private first class, which is the pay grade of an E3. Well, that advancement will require you to have been in the army for at least 12 months and been in E2 for at least four months. Let’s say you want to get promoted sooner than that, so you’re going to have to be eligible for a waiver, which means you have to be in the army for at least six months and have been an E2 for at least two months. Here’s the key thing with the waivers. If you got promoted, let’s say, from an E1 to an E2 with a waiver, you can still get another waiver to get promoted from an E2 to an E3. It’s not a one time thing. Another key thing you need to understand is that units are only eligible for X amount of waivers per month that is delegated from higher. So if a unit has been authorized, let’s say, three time and service waivers and three time and grade waivers for the next month to promote some soldiers early, well, then that means they’re going to look closely at who they should be really giving those waivers to.

Yet another thing you need to be aware of is if you’re in a situation where you want to get promoted early but you need a waiver for both time and service and time and grade, well, you better be doing something pretty amazing for that unit to decide that they’re going to use two waivers on you so that you can get promoted early. A waiver for time and service and time and grade is a little bit more rare. So you might want to try to meet one of those promotion requirements because your chances are a little bit better if you only need one waiver for either time and service or time and grade and not both. So as an example, let’s say you’ve been in E2 for four or five months but only been in the army for nine months. In that case, you’d be looking to get a waiver for your time and service so that you can get promoted early since you’ve already met the time and grade requirements. Moving on, though, now we’re looking to get that sham shield and get into the E4 mafia and become a specialist. Well, that will require you to have been in the army for at least two years and held the rank of a private first class for six months.

If you’re trying to fast pace your E4 mafia membership, well, then you’re going to need at least a year and a half of time in service and three months as a PFC to try to land yourself a promotion waiver. Now, if you’re someone that comes into the army with some rank, let’s say, just be aware, you still have to meet these minimum requirements as well. There are oftentimes when you might still see new soldiers catch up to you in rank because you still have not been in the army long enough to be eligible for advancing to the next rank automatically or you’re not yet in the window for that waiver. Now, let me give you some tips as to what you can do to get on your leadership’s radar when they’re looking to see who they want to use those waivers on. You even have a chance to land a waiver in your initial training. Those waivers are typically given to soldiers that do things like score the highest on their fitness test, or drill sergeants notice that they’re stepping up and helping other soldiers out when they’re struggling. Now, that’s not a guarantee, though.

If you’re giving it your all and doing amazing things, but that basic training unit was only authorized two waivers and some privates in another company maxed their fitness test and killed it on weapons qualification, then they might end up getting those waivers. It can be a bit of a challenge, though, to stand out in a positive way and receive one of those waivers in your initial training. The first thing you can do back at your unit, though, to make sure that you’re making a good impression on your leadership is to make sure you’re covering the basics. That means you are at the right place, the right time, and doing what you’re supposed to do. Don’t be someone that’s lost and not showing up to formation or training on time and always seem messing around when you should be doing something else. Those soldiers are not going to be the first ones that get promoted early when the platoon sergeant starts asking the squad leaders who deserves a promotion waiver. The second tip is to volunteer. The platoon sergeant might say something like, Give me three soldiers. That means he or she needs three soldiers to accomplish tasks, but wants to see who is willing to just step forward and get it done before knowing what the task is and if it’s something that sucks or not.

Even when it’s a situation where you know what the task is, volunteer to get it done. At some point, if you’re always stepping forward and your leadership sees that, then they’re going to likely start sending you back, being like, No, give me someone else. If this happens, then that means you’re doing something right and they can already count on you and you don’t need to prove to them that you’re willing to get it done. Still continue to volunteer, though, so that they’re reminded that you’re the one for the job. Now, the third tip would be to put forth as much effort as you can into whatever it is that you’re doing. If it’s a physical fitness test or a weapons qualification, then try to score as high as you can. If it’s some class, then learn everything you can, ask questions, and try to come out of that class being capable of teaching other soldiers what you learned. In the end, leadership wants to get soldiers promoted early that they feel are willing to make their jobs easier. The soldiers they can count on, the soldiers that get the job done, and the soldiers that give it everything they have.

So you could just kick back and just get by by waiting for your automatic promotion to come through, or you can give it the effort and move up in the ranks faster than your peers. It’s all about how hard you try and sometimes your leadership. Look, I won’t sugarcoat this and say that if you do this, you’re guaranteed to make rank fast. You could do everything that I said and still get promoted automatically when you meet the requirements because your leadership is not really paying attention to what the soldiers are actually doing. I cannot guarantee success. All you can do is do your part and see where it gets you or do nothing and basically guarantee that you won’t get promoted early. Good luck to you. Hopefully, if you found this video helpful, we’ll maybe think about sharing it. If you have some additional questions and you want to know some more things about maybe promotion stuff, well, leave some comments down below. I’ll do my best to try to help out where I can. But if you like this video, hit that thumbs up. Check out links down in the description for social media, all sorts of other fun stuff.

Thank you so much for watching. I’m Christopher Kost and I’ll see you next time. See you.

George N.
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