How does one get promoted in the military...

[Muahaha 10]

Hey all,

Since I am no military guy, I was wondering how in RL does a person gets promoted in rank... Let say from a recruit onwards....

Based on merits or years of service?

[dmarkwick 261]

You have to be recommended by a superior, and of course there needs to be a vacancy. Those are the common basics across all services, in the Royal Air Force you also need to accrue "points" from annual assessments, those with the most points get promoted first.

[spektre76 10]

You need a tube of chapstick a jar of vaseline and no gag reflex.

On the serious side of things......

I spent over 15 years in the most powerful Navy in all the world, the United States Navy. In our branch we had to maintain physical fittness, basic training requirements, job knowledge requirements and personal appearance. Our personal off duty behavoir affected us as well such as: Law enforcement disclipinary action, indebtiness (financial activities) volunteering and education. That all gets compiled up into an Eval Score on a scale of 1.0 - 5.0.

Your Eval is only 1/2 the battle as you have to pass a Navy Wide Exam with 200 questions that takes 3 hours to complete. Then you go through a selection process that takes 90 days. Beleive it or not physical fitness is the one thing that will bite you in the ass. Especially if you are a US Marine or Army Soldier.

Then they release the quotas to be filled. Then one week later the Commanding Officer is notified with an unofficial list of selctees. You can pass the exam and still not make rank due to your eval score and quota minum score required. To make E-6 (Petty Officer First Class) took me personally 5 tries. And you have to wait 6 months inbetween each test. The kicker is after you make E-5 you have to wait 3 years before you can even think about being an E-6, now think about that!

Another week goes by and then the Official 'In Stone' List hits the 'Navy Times' and the Commanding Officer's desk and then filters down.

Then some hapless sole is given good news and then he is the happiest man/wpman on earth.

Edited January 1, 2011 by SPEKTRE76
An actual description

[Muahaha 10]

Wow thanks for the enlightening insights... from what you guys are saying... it's sure sound like 1 heck of a tough job for any person. So I guess you need to be really damn good to even make it to commissioned officer ?

How bout those battlefield commissioning like in the movies? Those are practiced in RL or just Hollywood BS?

[dmarkwick 261]

Wow thanks for the enlightening insights... from what you guys are saying... it's sure sound like 1 heck of a tough job for any person. So I guess you need to be really damn good to even make it to commissioned officer ?

How bout those battlefield commissioning like in the movies? Those are practiced in RL or just Hollywood BS?

In the British forces at least, there is a very sharp divide between non-commissioned and commissioned personnel (a hangover from our rigid class system). In fact it's more like two separate streams of careers, which you decide upon before you join. It is possible to go from non-commissioned to commissioned, I know several people who have done it, but it is generally more difficult than joining up as a commissioned in the first place.

[sic-disaster 311]

Kill count!

Seriously, how else will you farm enough experience points to level up?

[Tankbuster 1733]

In the British forces at least, there is a very sharp divide between non-commissioned and commissioned personnel (a hangover from our rigid class system). In fact it's more like two separate streams of careers, which you decide upon before you join. It is possible to go from non-commissioned to commissioned, I know several people who have done it, but it is generally more difficult than joining up as a commissioned in the first place.

Woe betide the officer who disregards his NCO, though. The Sergeants run the British military, everybody knows that.

[Beagle 684]

Hey all,

Since I am no military guy, I was wondering how in RL does a person gets promoted in rank... Let say from a recruit onwards....

Based on merits or years of service?

In german Bundeswehr you get promoted "automatically" the first two ranks by a specific service time by just passing the first two specialist exams thats define your later career. It is off course possible to not get promoted at all if you perform bad.

In short....you get promoted to a higher rank in your rank group by time, but you will get promotion into a higher rank class only by qualification.

The three groups are: Soldiers, Sergeants & NCOs, Officers.

So you will get your promotions from "Schütze" to "Stabsobergefreiter" with just simple qualifications and over time, but to become "Unteroffizier" you have to qualify in the according course. After that you wil again get promoted over time until you make the NCO or "Feldwebel" course...and so on

To become a officer you have to join the officer carrer, you will make the same courses but gain other named ranks like "Fähnrich" (engl. Ensign) instead of Feldwebel until you make it to full Leutnant (Lieutenant)

So in short: you get promioted by qualification and over time...merrits alone will bring you only a higher rank in you rank group maybe a year earlier as usual...but without qualification you will be stuck somewhere. Field promitions are rare nowadays and won't happen outside of a rank group.

Edited January 2, 2011 by Beagle

[Muahaha 10]

In german Bundeswehr you get promoted "automatically" the first two ranks by a specific service time by just passing the first two specialist exams thats define your later career. It is off course possible to not get promoted at all if you perform bad.

In short....you get promoted to a higher rank in your rank group by time, but you will get promotion into a higher rank class only by qualification.

The three groups are: Soldiers, Sergeants & NCOs, Officers.

So you will get your promotions from "Schütze" to "Stabsobergefreiter" with just simple qualifications and over time, but to become "Unteroffizier" you have to qualify in the according course. After that you wil again get promoted over time until you make the NCO or "Feldwebel" course...and so on

To become a officer you have to join the officer carrer, you will make the same courses but gain other named ranks like "Fähnrich" (engl. Ensign) instead of Feldwebel until you make it to full Leutnant (Lieutenant)

So in short: you get promioted by qualification and over time...merrits alone will bring you only a higher rank in you rank group maybe a year earlier as usual...but without qualification you will be stuck somewhere. Field promitions are rare nowadays and won't happen outside of a rank group.

So experience doesn't really make much difference if one doesn't have the paper to "impress". Thanks for the insights.

[spektre76 10]

So I guess you need to be really damn good to even make it to commissioned officer ?

:232:

In the US Armed Forces all you need is a college degree* or have graduated from Annapolis US Naval Academy for Naval Commissioned Officer* or Marine Officers and WestPoint for US Air Force and Army Officers.

* There is another avenue you can go. Get a degree and apply for OCS: Officer Candidate School. It is 13 weeks of intense military training led by US Marine Drill Sergeants.

Keep in mind this is the Navy and Marine side. I cannot speak for the USA or USAF.

Then you either become a pilot (2 1/2 years training) or a SWO: Surface Warfare Officer. Meaning you spend your entire career aboard ships. The Marines do not attend SWO training. Specialized officers are known as Staff Corps Officers**. They are Chaplains, Lawyers, Dentists and Doctors. And they are normally auto-promoted to the grade of 0-3 'Lieutenant', so I've heard.

Prior enlisted men/women like me would have to attend OCS and we have to go through several interviews with commissioned officers and write several letters of interest and all that stuff I talked about in my first post comes into play as well. There is a selection board that convenes every 365 days. Selection takes 6 months.

**Difference between a Staff Corps Officer and a regular Officer (Line Officer): SCO's cannot under any circumstances take command or given command authority when a Commissioned Naval Officer is present regardless or rank. Now keep in mind they can certainly order lower ranking officers and they are most certainly given respect. They are commissioned however their Oath of Office is different.

So, if there was a Captain (0-6) and an Ensign (0-1 pee on) the Ensign would be in command. SCO's go as high as 0-6 while NO's ('Line Officers') go up 0-11.

0-11 is only given to one man or woman at any one time. 0-11's are known as Chief of Naval Operations (US Navy only) and are part of the Joint Chiefs of Staff whom advises the President militarily.

Edited January 3, 2011 by SPEKTRE76
Captilzed the 'o' in Operations

[vilas 473]

in some countries it depends with whom you dring and are you nice ass licker or not (when you not drink , you were treated as "what a f***, clean closet" )

maybe now it changed in our countries too, but i remember promotion "because of family, father, uncle, grandfather" etc.

as i remember my country army and police 15-20 years ago it was "family? no ? drink good ? no ? than get the f** out"

[st_dux 26]

... WestPoint for US Air Force and Army Officers.

Actually, the USAF has its own academy.