Is it possible to get promoted this quickly in the Air Force? Is this typical for band members?

Let’s put a different spin on this.

From the reg:

“Special enlisted promotion authority is granted only for band members assigned to Premier Bands because:”

5.2.1. Recruiting fully qualified professional musicians saves training costs and time.

“Fully qualified professional musicians.” What exactly makes a fully qualified professional musician? And I’m being serious now. Is there a certification process or even documented experience requirements? What exactly qualifies a nineteen-year-old TSgt as a “fully qualified professional musician” other than some people liked her voice at an audition.

5.2.2. Recruiting and retaining fully qualified professional musicians to Premier Bands
requires an incentive.

By incentive, I can’t think of what the incentive would be other than a monetary one. Anyway, there are plenty of other incentive programs out there. We have jump pay, flight pay, dive pay, and so on. Instead of devaluing rank by using it as an incentive exclusively, why not just have band pay.

5.2.3. Members are deferred from rotational PCS moves and must compete for promotion to internal vacancies rather than external quotas.

Last one doesn’t have anything to do with awarding E-6 right out of basic, as far as I can tell. Kind of sounds like how things work in the Guard and Reserves though.

Thoughts?

Rank implies experience and knowledge. If you need special experience then by all means establish an incentive program. But to give rank with the global expectation that they have the experience and knowledge to go along with it is an isult to those who have earned it.

thats you new tops in blue mwr smaller band easier to move and transport they are country band

Sure, but the army cannot release promotion board results for at least three months.

It's not like this is new......they've been doing this for quite some time now.

So this is why we have higher ranks starting at 1 year TIS on the pay charts. Just kidding.

We should keep the rank structure the same and use special pays to compensate. i understand the theory behind paying them more (don't agree with it), but just pay them more without giving them the rank. The rank is not a symbol of how much you get paid, it's much more than that.

How is this any different than college kids coming out at a officer level. Here is my thoughts. ROTC should require mandatory basic training and PLDC during the last 3 years of the program. Maybe they would have a better appreciation and understanding of the subordinates underneath them.

Maybe she has a really good golf game.

I spent 6 years in the Navy back during Desert Storm as an electronics tech. and the tough thing about the military and the pay grades is they are all treated the same. I have a problem with this is due to the nature of the job, always have. I just don't think that someone who sings or plays the flute should be given the same base pay as someone who has a much more physically demanding job. Or has to dodge bullets on a daily basis. I know there are the added hazardous duty pays involved and all that, just saying the BASE pay, ect... I know there may be some flack about my statement, after all, I was only an ekectronics tech., but I had more then 2 years of Navy schooling for my cert. My rating was like 113 % staffed also, so promotions were few and far between when I was in. I mean if I was like a mechanic, sweatin' my ass off, bustin' my back all day every day, I'd be pretty pissed about that kind of promotion policy.