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

I made SP% at 18 years old with 1 year TIS in 1976...never was PVT, PV2, or CPL/SP4...

I made SP% at 18 years old, one year TIS in 1976...

No, she probably really is an E-6. I don't agree with the practice, but the Air Force, and other branches offer quick promotions to people who are like the best musicians in the country. They wouldn't otherwise be able to compete for talent for their "oh, so prestigious bands." I can assure you that, outside of that fantasy Air Force Band world, no one respects her rank. It simply was a recruiting gimmick to get her to enlist instead of enroll in Juliard.

The Chair Force is not the only branch that promotes like that. I seen happen in the Army with my own eyes. I watched a E-2 go to E-5(P) within 2.5 years. He was bout even 21 when he pinned E-6. In the Navy I saw several 6 year E-7 pinnings. In my 13 years of service, I found out it is not what you do or how you perform, but who you know and who you screw.

I love my COUNTRY and will freely die for my Brothers and Sisters that I served with, but I am discussed with this new age military. I am 5th generation military and this is a disgrace to the uniforms of the past.

I mean, come on, it's the Air Force...

A better way to do this would be to make her an E -3 , allow her to earn her future rank including NCO status while giving her incentive/retention pay. They use to do this for medical professionals to keep them on par with their civilian counterparts.

Here's the thing: When you're in a rate/MOS whose primary role is to make the country look good, boost morale, and motivate people to join or support the services, your best chances of making those people happy and satisfied enough to do a good job is to give them lots and lots of benefits. That means incentive pay, that means high-speed promotion, that means preferred choice of duty stations. You don't need to like it, but that's why the Navy has the saying, "Choose your rate, choose your fate."

RIDICULOUS....

You know what gets very iratated. Is permissive tdy. People who play football or baseball. And you have to stay behind and do there work. Do you remember the Army fighter to went and competed in the Olympics. Think of all the people who did his work. I think he won a medle. Did not thank the Army for giving him the opera unity to train. I think he got out of the service. More money. But I digress.

There are usually two types of bands across each of the branches. There are the field or fleet bands, which are scattered across the nation and the world. And then each service has one to four "special bands" that serve mostly around D.C. and at the service academies. The special bands tend to start their new recruits at the E6 paygrade. It's not uncommon to see a good number of folks holding their service's E8 and E9 paygrade ranks as well. All of their promotions come from within their own little unit.

In the Army, for instance, the other "non-elite" band members will start as a Specialist/E4 and then we compete within our occupational specialty Army-wide. I think the Corps might start their musicians as a Lance Corporal after boot or something. The whole idea here is to entice someone to take this music job, and hopefully to find someone qualified to do it.

I speak only for my branch, but the quality of musician that staffs our units has improved greatly this past decade. Recruiting efforts and a green carrot to dangle have helped make this happen. And so long as the military wants musicians to perform for the greater mission of that Service, then they have to take steps to bring in the talent capable of doing the job. I'm not qualified for her job, nor could I competitively audition nowadays for a spot in one of the "special bands." But I appreciate what those units do. It's different work, but it's still important. I want the DoD to pay what it takes to fill the job, same as I want them doing what it takes to find the most qualified rifleman, doctor, admin tech, or explosive ordnance disposal tech. One team, One fight.