I’m not going to complain at all. Retiring as an O-3 seems like a really foreign concept to the AF, unless someone was prior enlisted for awhile. Usually the AF tries to kick people out if they miss the Major board a few times, and right now we have about a 99% promotion rate to O-4.
Army is a lot different. Officers are all fighting for such limited slots. Easy to get to O-3, then it gets tough from there. That's when your officer evaluation reports are SO important. They say it's like 80% rate but I can tell you it's much lower now.
To further my post- It also depends what branch of the Army you're in. Especially if you're reserves or Guard.
I would imagine those on active duty have an advantage? That said, though, it seems odd that someone in the reserves or Guard would be competing with active duty types...
Active duty does have an advantage, you are correct. Guard slots are much tougher to come by. I can't speak to Reserves but I'd imagine they are like the guard slots. When I was in the VA Guard, we had a 9 year LT. I think it held a state record lol
Agree. I see it all the time. My dad, three of our four brothers served and my sister married a service man. My wife’s mother served. It seems like there is a sense of discipline we carry to this day. Many things like, I still rolling my underwear and taught our kids to check all the fluids and air pressure in the car before they went out at night. There are lots of good things the service promotes that most could benefit from including respect for authority but still knowing right from wrong.
My Dad, both Grandpas, a couple great uncles, and myself served. Mom’s dad was in the Navy in the Pacific in WW2. His brother lost a leg in Italy, and the other one was maintenance for the B-17s in England. Grandpa on my dad’s side was in Korea in the army when he was 17, stayed in and made a career out of it, did 3 tours in Vietnam. My dad was a 11H from the late 70’s till the Soviet Union collapsed, and then got out. I joined the army when I was 17, in 97 as a 11B. Did two deployments to Iraq with 1st ID, got busted up my second deployment, and medically retired in 2009.
Great family story of sacrifices and dedication. Bless you all. Hope it’s going well for you and yours.
Not really. Many in our unit were regulars who just transferred over to the guard Or reserves. It’s not either/or. It’s often both. 45% of those going to Afghanistan and Iraq we’re guard and reserve. 20% of the casualties were reservists. It doesn’t matter whether you’re active or not, being a soldier is a dangerous business. One bro served on a carrier and another was a seaman on a submarine and I was a medic . We all narrowly escaped Death at times whether we were active or training. It’s dangerous business. My bro in-law was a b52 pilot. He once joked, I’m taking off tomorrow on a bombing mission thousands of miles a way; god willing the day after, I’ll be back in the states sleeping with your sister.
I think the post you were responding to, you misunderstood. I was talking about Guard/Reserve Officer slots vs. Active Duty slots. Which is why he asked that question.
And that changes all the time. When I came back in in 2007, they would take almost anybody with a pulse. Fast forward 3 years, and suddenly a lot of people were being forced out. I saw guys that had gone from Private to Sergeant First Class in less than 10 years, and Lieutenant to Major. But then in 2009 that largely came to a halt. Then came the troop cuts, and suddenly the military had far to many people and they had to start cutting. When I was in the Corps, most retired as a Staff Sergeant after 20 years. Then I met a 24 year old Staff Sergeant, and was blown away. That kid was at the rank that most during my era were just starting to become eligible for E-6, and he was talking about being an E-7 in a few years. One of my COs is probably getting out soon. She blazed from 2nd Lieutenant to Lieutenant Colonel in under 20 years, then got her silver chicken and just stalled there. Multiple combat deployments, but suddenly there were not enough slots to go around so she retired. And most of us who served under her were sure she would be retiring with multiple stars. But after being a Combat Brigade commander, she is now at almost the end of her term in a "caretaking" position in the Pentagon, and will likely be retired.
And much has to do with connections and who you know. I can’t say it’s much different then civilian life at times.
The problem we faced (speaking of officers that were in between 2011-2018ish) was that Obama spent a lot of time cutting budgets. We had a unit (guard unit) completely shut down. When the budget is slashed, officer slots are very hard to come by. It really doesn't matter how one's OER is nowadays, just a matter of where you're stationed and if there's a slot available. We had an O3 resign her commission because of the struggle.