Does the Air Force promote Airmen too fast?

There should definitely be a TIG TIS requirement that comes with each rank. Obviously as the ranks get hire, the requirements should be somewhat longer than the last. I know many E4 and below who are immature and not ready for the responsibility of becoming a Non Commissioned Officer. Flip side I know quite a few who are far more mature, have more common sense, and logical/tactical thinking skills than many NCOs. Perhaps those NCOs were promoted too soon? I'm not sure. Take this as an example, there are Soldiers in my unit coming in as PFCs, or /SPCs with a degree, and their MOS is 88M. Now those SPC just need 6 months TIG to go to the board which they have after BCT &AIT, and they're promotable, then they go to BLC, and bam, there points are 39, so all they had to do was wake up on cutoff day and they made it. Now that Soldier is an E5 with less than 2 years in, in charge of Soldiers with 4,5,6 years in, and some might say well they should get promoted and you're right. But what happens in another 6 months when he can go to the board again and become an E6 and now he's a squad leader and in some units a plt Sgt with less than 3-4 years in over 20+ personnel? TIG and TIS requirements are a must and the higher the rank the greater the requirement not only for the sake of the individual being promoted, but for the Soldiers for whom he or she will be responsible for.

I retired out of the Guard in 2007. But I saw a lot of people promoted to SrA who didn't deserve it (yet). When I first enlisted, a 5-level was required for promotion to Senior Airman. That requirement was later deleted.

Perhaps it's time to bring it back.

Airman can promote to E4 anywhere between 22-36 months. It is dependent upon the length of their contract, if they came in with college, and if they won BTZ.

However, it is my understanding that the AF is the only branch that must wait a year to test each time and we have to wait up to a year to put on the next stripe. I've had to wait 9 months to put on my stripe.

It's 28 months time in grade for an individual who graduates as an E3 (either a 6 year enlistee or a 4 year with college credits, 30 I believe.) now if you're like me and came in at 17, under a four year contract, with no college, than you had to wait 36 months from your TAFMSD, the day you entered, to sew on E4.

It is possible for an Airman to put on E4 at 22 months if they win SrA BTZ and they fall under the 28 month time in service bracket. So if they were say a linguist and went to a 12 month tech school, by the time they inprocessed they would have on E4 within 9-10 months of arriving at their first duty station.

SSG Hasbun is correct, the AF promotes slower than any branch. We are only allowed to test once a year and we have to wait up to a year to put on the next stripe depending on your line number. I've had to wait 9 months from the day I made Staff Sergeant to put on. I'm curious if anyone from other branches could argue that they wait a longer time to promote.

I understand the issue of promoting too fast has been in issue particularly in the Air National Guard. However, they have made some changes to slow that down. One change is to base the TIS on when they complete BMT rather than the day they enlist for promotion purposes. This is important because new enlistees start getting paid for showing up to weekend drills for several months before attending BMT. In years past, this time period counted toward their TIS for promotion purposes and when to allow them to attend the Airman Leadership School.

This must be an AFRC specific issue.
I will admit when I was in the Reserves, if there was an open position up the chain in your AFSC, then everyone below would move up.
Case in point I was a E4 on the Friday before the UTA/drill weekend. On the next day I was told I was a "buck sergeant". Then the final day of the same UTA I was given SSgt.
Yes, I completed all required PME months before.

Really? I came in as an E-1 and didn't put on E-4 for 36 months...and E-5 about 20 months later. Right after I put on E-5 I met an Army E-6 with about 6 months less TIS than I had.

Not sure what tech school you are referring to. Not all tech schools are of the same duration. Missile Maintenance tech school only lasted 6 weeks and I was at my first duty assignment months before my first promotion. I then strove for technical mastery in the back shop that I was in and obtained team chief status shortly after my second promotion. The question of being a "professional airman" lies more in the realm of the individual and their experiences.

Not really sure where you saw that but the Air Force requires for Airman First Class to have 28 months Tig or 36 months TIS and 20 months TIG. BTZ only takes 6 months from those requirements. So AFI was definitely violated.

Rates of promotion change like the tides. Some years are low; some years are high.