Does the Air Force promote Airmen too fast?

Well I personally think that the Air Force started it slow decline in the type of leadership it produced when it took away the Buck sergeant rank unfortunately today the problem you see is that not many airman are getting meant toward and prepared for the next rank and this leads to having a situation where you have a inexperienced individual controlling the careers of junior airman but without the proper training. You see initially when you became a senior meant you were supposed to be heading towards airmen leadership school but now those airman are no longer getting those slots and they are pipelining staff Sergeant selects for those slots the idea was to get the training ahead of time and be able to work out the kinks and quirks of supervising until you were ready to promote to the next level. While some individuals are more mature than others regardless of age I would say the majority of personnel need to have the experience of messing up and struggling and overcoming in order to be in efficient supervisor in other words you can't help out the situation Fully unless you been in similar circumstances and you'll get that with experience

I have to disagree with you I've been in 5 years and know E6s in the army that went in around the same time as me. It depends on the person and his superiors. In my career field I've seen this a lot. Once an airman makes rank someone of that next rank takes that person under their wing and preps them for that next rank. Soon they find themselves operating at that projected rank before you pin on. When I was SrA with a line number I was put in ALS, and then given 7 troops. Yes 7. We through you to the wolves round these parts lol. But I had staffs and techs walking with me step by step soon after they took of my training wheels and left me to it. I did so well they gave me 3 more troops...yay. Lol I'm down to 4 now. Thank you baby Jesus! Lol

I was an E3 for a bit over two years. I came in an E3 (college) in November 2007 and was a four year enlistee. I didn't put E4 on until March 2010 and that was on time, not below the zone.

I think if you really want to fix the problem, change how the six year contracts are done even though it never bothered me. Currently if you do a six year contract, the date you put E3 on is backdated to when you came in, or graduated basic training (forgot which one) even though you physically won't sew it on until later. So you could put E4 on in a similar period of time as someone like myself. Not to mention you rarely ever see a E1 or E2 anymore outside of Tech School. The number I have seen out of tech school over the entire time I was in was less than ten. The number in trouble? Maybe ten more on top of that?

I wouldn't change the fact that someone gets BTZ could test very early for SSgt as they will still have to wait a year at least and depending on their leadership they may be put in the spotlight and have a lot more eyes on them and attention. It isn't too common that a BTZ winner who tests early actually makes it the first time, if they do great but it's not too common...

AF used to have the slowest promotion rates, but now 50% a year is not unusual. While many lament the quick promotions no one seems to be looking at why this is happening. We must have some terrible retention ranks of E-5/6s for so many positions to come open every year. If we don't fix the retention problem, this trend will continue.

I served from 1980-2002 and worked with many AF personal during my career and always remembered how slow they promoted them. I made SGT/E-5 in 30 months and the AF personal we’re still wearing the E-4 stripes. Boy times have changed.

W0W didn't know the AF changed that much in the 20 some years. When I was in it took at lest 2 years to get to AIC and 3 to get Senior Airman then it was below the zone. To my knowledge I don't know of any one who made E-5 before their forth year and took at lest a year to before the sewed it on. So E-5 was at lest 4 and half to 5 years if my memory serves me right.

Promotions are based on the need of the Military Occupation! Vietnam and prior there were plenty of promotions based on need (I.e. “field” or war time promotion based on the fact that the senior was killed in combat)! Just be humble and quit worrying about how today’s promotions work!

Yes as far being in charge. They have no experience.

When I was in, I made E-2 Oct 85 and E-3 June 86 but then got busted down

In the Army, E1-E4 usually takes about a year. Our E4 rank is split into E4 Specialist and Corporal with Corporal being an earned NCO rank that takes longer to achieve although it is possible to go from Specialist to E5 Sergeant. From E4-E5 averages 2-3 years,from E4 on up each rank is more difficult to achieve so many retire as E6 or E7 at 20 years. In my opinion, this is how it should be, E2 and E3 should be easy to breeze through, then 6 months to E4, then each succeeding rank harder to obtain.