I'm new in the National Guard. What tips can I get to getting promoted quick?

2018-03-29T14:05:41-04:00

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Mar 29 at 2018 2:25 PM

2018-03-29T14:25:19-04:00

As far as I understand promotions aren't very fast in the National Guard. My brother has been in going on 15 years and he's a SGT. I think he picked up SGT a few years ago? He went in right after high school too. He's been in a year longer than me - I'm active duty though.

Response by SGT Dave Tracy made Mar 29 at 2018 2:36 PM

2018-03-29T14:36:30-04:00

My advice for overall success, not specific to attaining rank is as follows:

Not that I don't want you to excel in everything you do, but--and this is a rather sad statement on things--habitually doing what is expected of you, moves you into the top 20 percentile of...well, everyone.

You don't need to be the *rock star, you just need to be competent. Right place. Right time. Right uniform. Be . Know. Do. That's it in a nutshell.

*But if you can be the rock star, do that!

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Mar 29 at 2018 2:42 PM

2018-03-29T14:42:36-04:00

It depends on your state, the manning, and the number of slots in the state. The higher up you go in rank, the fewer slots there are. I've seen people go from E1 to E5 in 3 or 4 years and I've seen E5s that have 35 years TiS because there's no upward mobility. There are a lot of factors involved. Just keep your nose clean and appear to be motivated. Pass your PT tests and don't get fat. In my experience, the only boards that I've seen in the Guard are paper boards, which means a bunch of E8s and/or E9s sit around a table with a bunch of packets and add up points. Make sure your ERB/SRB is up to date.

Response by SGT Edward Wilcox made Mar 29 at 2018 2:43 PM

2018-03-29T14:43:06-04:00

Honestly, transfer to Active Duty or the Reserves.

Response by CPT Private RallyPoint Member made Mar 29 at 2018 3:07 PM

2018-03-29T15:07:51-04:00

PV2 Private RallyPoint Member - Make sure that you excel at the "right" things. As a PV2, your main responsibility is to be where you're told to be, when you're told to be there, and know how to do what you're being told to do. Do those things well. Be the best at PT that you can be, get some civilian education under your belt if you haven't already, volunteer for any Army courses that you can take, and do well with marksmanship. Do the basic soldier skills and you will be fine. Yes, there is a component to availability of your MOS in various manning slots, but that shouldn't come into play until you compete for E5.

Response by SGT Eric Davis made Mar 29 at 2018 4:22 PM

2018-03-29T16:22:22-04:00

Follow orders and do all the training that is sent to you!

Response by WO1 Private RallyPoint Member made Apr 3 at 2018 2:32 AM

2018-04-03T02:32:26-04:00

Going up to E4, just don't do anything that would give your command a reason to not give you a TIS/TIG waiver and don't get flagged. Most soldiers in my unit have gotten a TIS/TIG waiver whenever they're able to give one. Otherwise, the TIS/TIG should promote you eventually.

Beyond that, be in an MOS that has open slots and not a lot of people competing for the limited slots. I don't know if every state does it, but mine and at least some other states have a promotion list that ranks all the promotable soldiers for each MOS and E5-E8 vacancies are filled from the top of the list. As a 25S I was able to slide into an E5 slot very easily, as all the promotable E4s on the list for last year got a slot so I was able to fill the E5 vacancy in my own unit before I am E5 promotable (thus why I am currently a CPL).

The 25B's and 25U's have a significantly tougher time getting E5 slots. In that case you have to be competitive and do everything you can to out-compete the other promotable E4s. Look at what the army promotion points system evaluates because chances are they'll use that to rank you. Be educated, be good at PT, be good at your job, demonstrate leadership potential.