A question about The Rank system?

<jake>

The promotion system doesn't work that way. You don't go from E-1 to E-9 and then become an officer. They are two separate systems but many people do become officers after being enlisted.

Here's how it works:

The main distinction between commissioned officers and enlisted servicemembers is that usually, not always, the officers have a college degree and the enlisted don't.

Culturally they are a little different too, in that you could think of it as the officers being the executives of a company and enlisted being the laborers. Some people even say the officers are like the noble class and the enlisted are the peasants but that's a little extreme.

If you enlist, you can apply to be an officer through one of the service's commissioning programs. There are a few different paths. Some people get out of boot camp, go to their job school and shortly after that enter a commissioning program. They have to go to college paid for by the service and when they are done, they owe 8 years.

Others enlist in the reserves, go to summer programs during college and then enlist. Finally others, get to about E-6 or E-7, usually at least 8 years of active duty and then apply to become an officer without already having a degree but 60 college credits.

Here's my advice. If you want to become an officer, you are actually better off going to college first and then going in. Its easier than enlisting first. The services claim to want to "grow their own" but unfortunately there is a different reality. They tend to have a higher standard for enlisted to officer applicants.

alexander m

you can use the Green to Gold program whenever. just get a degree and go to OCS

Stephanie F

You can become commissioned with a college degree at any time, or use the green to gold program to finish college and go officer that way. At E8 you can request to switch over to commissioned and I believe start at an E3.

There is a different pay scale for Officer that start as enlisted. The pay scale is higher to avoid the loss of pay. You can see that on the pay scale as o1-o4 that have an asterisk. Once you are sitting at e7-e8 though, it may still show you a loss. You'd have to look at the pay table closely.

Once you have hit above e8 - you actually have plenty of power and are usually in a command position, with the lower officer ranks looking to you anyway.

The best way to go if officer is your goal is to look into the green to gold or, if you are under 22, West Point holds slots just for current soldiers.

This info is for Army, so not sure about the other branches. They will all have some sort of program to get into though.

The best Officers usually come from the Enlisted ranks since they've seen the other side.
Good Luck

laurenmarie

Yes, get commissioned. Most people don't want to start out back at the bottom once they get past E-5/6 though.

Tag23

If you hit E-9 with time and grade you would lose money kicking over to officers rank I believe you would start on the bottom.

http://www.militaryfactory.com/military_pay_scale.asp

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