Is it fair that Reservists, particularly AGR, get promoted so much quicker than Active Duty?

What you don't hear is about the overages who are ineligible for promotion like me.

I tend to not question Guard/Reserve anymore. We had a guy go through tech school with us who sewed on SrA immediately after graduation. They can promote you through the first few ranks quick but it's also very easy to hit a point where you don't go any further for a very long time. As others have said, they promote you when a position holding that rank opens up. That could be a few months after your training or a few years.

I would have to say that I am 50/50 on this. I have seen some AGR soldiers struggle to get their promotions. I know for me, I came in as an E4 and no matter how many times I was recommended for the board because of my high PT and leadership skills and civ ed, I was told no because I needed more time in grade and service. Nothing about them needing a slot filled. I was sitting in an NCO slot to begin with and still didn't get promoted. I didn't mind so much because I wanted to learn my job well but others did. I finally got promoted this past AUG though. Now, I have seen where TDY soldiers were going up in ranks pretty fast because they were "buddy buddy" with certain individuals. I have 2 AD battle buddies who are being forced out for failure to progress simply because they didn't want to. No matter how hard their SNCO's pressed, they were content. Another they aren't allowing to reenlist because he had surgery done and just sat back and did nothing but blame his surgeries. So, I think that it all depends on the individual and where they are as far as their duty stations because that is not the truth for all. You never know. Screwy, most certainly but there is really no way to tell unless you catch someone in the act.

I would also like to add an opinion/request in regards to this discussion. Rather you're Active, separated, or retired we all went through similar teachings.

Derogatory remarks directed to or about other service members is not only a true representation of your character, but something that would land you in deep water if your were still held accountable under UCMJ.

I don't appreciate reading it and I'm confident others would agree that we need to "lock it up". I'm not trying to be the stereotypical "sensitive" service member that many feel like we have nowadays, just would like to see people treat others with the respect we all deserve. Thank You

I do feel that they should not promote as quick as they currently do. As an example, guard obtain their rank by being hired into a position that requires a certain rank to hold it. But what I have to go back to is where reserve and guard augment active duty. Do we want to have a VERY inexperienced leader heading a no fail mission? Not necessarily. That doesn't state that they can't do it but it does put them at a perceived downfall.

It all depends on the installation. Before I returned to AD, we used an Army style promotion board to determine fit for promotion. With that said…what can you do? As a medic, I returned to active more “ready” than 90% of those in the AF according to SKT and observed performance. Of course, for the life of me I didn’t know what the overall size of a hair clip should be without consulting the regs but on AD we had many, many promote knowing very little about their purpose and job but knew exactly who broke wind on the first AF designated aircraft. For 180 days I supervised the UCC at PSAB as an Air National Guard E-6 but lost 2 stripes when returning to AD. I also couldn’t for SSgt test my first time elegible after return because the system couldn’t recognize a 7 level E-4 (my contract stipulated maintaining my skill level…that’s another adventure in itself). With that in my…If the AFR and ANG are not qualified to hold that rank when returning to AD, why are they put in leadership positions while activated under title 10? I spent 16 years back on AD prior to retirement but from my experience, give me the those people who train more to be ready 38 days out of the month than those who “look” ready but are too busy selling cookies, hanging decorations for a ball, or volunteering out of the work center to be truly ready. I never had a Guard commander make the excuse that “unfortunately…Iraq and Afghanistan are our training grounds”.

Good question. When I was in ROTC in college a friend joined the Army Guard. His commander called him in before he left for basic, because he had "come college" he promoted him to 2nd Lt!! From "slick sleeve" to "Butter Bar," in minutes, skipping basic training!! A meteoric rise!

Nothing is fair, its the opposite for commissioned officers. My counterparts who stayed on active duty who commissioned around the same time are already O5's. I just saw on my FB feed a guy who I went to field training with in 2000 just got selected for O6. I am still an O4 that will be just now heading to the O5 board this summer, with no guarantee to get it.

As for reservist enlisted getting promoted too early, it can be their career killer if they are not ready to be in the grade. I supervised a guy who fast tracked to E8 too fast and he was not ready and his position went away and he had to get a waiver to work in an E6 billet. While it may seem like a good deal, they could be hosed at the end of the day.

I absolutely hate it. When you have someone join the reserves or NG and they make it all the way up to SFC and then go active duty, they're a hot mess and have no idea what they are doing.

Well its the opposite for Officers. We put on the next grade a few years later than our AD counterparts. I am fine with that, TBH. You might think this is a good deal for a reservist in the E ranks to promote. It can actually be detrimental to their careers if they promote too fast and are not ready for the responsibility. In the reserves we have a saying that you can promote yourself out of a job.

I can attest to an E-8 who I supervised that this happened to. After a few years of being a reservist I supervised an E-8 who had rapidly crawled up the rank ladder in his previous career. I can attest that he was not suited for the role at all. In fact I was floored on the amount of supervision he required for mundane things involving his own career. I was used to SNCO's who for one wanted to have minimal officer involvement into their world. SNCO's being very aggressive in their own careers I was shocked on how much attention I had to give to this individual. He was not a bad guy, but he was very ill-prepared for his rank and the requirements to be there. In fact the amount of attention that he required was on the level that in my previous life I would have to give to younger Airman basically out of high school.

When I say you can promote yourself out of a job, that damn near happened to him. We both lost our slots to IMA funding cuts. We both had to find new homes. I found one in my current unit. He had a tough time and was trying to find an E-8 or E-9 billet. No one wanted to accept him as he did not have a strong record. I had to write very weak EPR's on him, not because I wanted to. It was because no matter creative I tried to be to give him a decent write up, it was probably painfully obvious to any outsider looking in that he did not have any meaningful or impactful bullet statements. He had not done what was normally required at that level. It was clearly obvious he was not someone another unit wanted to fill an SNCO slot. I tried to help him find a job and we were at a stand still. At the end of the day he eventually got a job, but had to be waived to fill a lower ranking billet that they had issues filling. They put in E-8 into an E-6 slot. Basically he was now working two levels below his pay grade. This pretty much was the career ender. There will be no way short of nuclear war that he will ever be a Chief.

I don't fault him, I fault his prior raters who put him in a position to fail. His prior leadership failed to properly guide him on to have a successful NCO career. I learned a few years later that perhaps promoting him was intentional as a means to get him out of their unit. That can never be confirmed, but as soon as he made E-8 he had to find a another position as his previous unit had no E-8 slots and were not going to let him into an E-9 billet.