Should promotion from PFC to SPC be automatic?

We have had guys bring in LES in to prove that they got their promotion. It's enough for my unit, yours may request something more.

PFC Alex Rivers One question, is your shit straight? If it is then you could explore the situation w/ your chain of command! Be truthful to yourself, are you Soldiering?

What does your LES say?

PFC Alex Rivers
If I was you I would look at your ERB like someone already said, sometimes you could be flagged. Then I would look at your Date of ranks to see if you did get promoted. Sometimes it happens when you do get an "automatic" promotion and this could be a mistake, there has been times when PFC's are getting SPC pay and don't even say anything. This is where it becomes a problem because the ARMY will get their money back. Another thing that might happen would be someone in S1 didn't catch the mistake and it goes unnotice. So after checking your ERB and your Mypay, talk to your first line and ask them how can you get promoted. He might reply with something like, you have to be at the right place at the right time with the right uniform. He might also say soldier of the month boards. This is where you should ask to go to one, right now it seems you are off the radar and you need to get noticed, the boards are a good way to do that in a good way. I was always told that if TOP knows your name its because you did something wrong. So do something good and try to win the board, this way all the other units know your name. Also whatever you do, DO NOT GO over your first line, it's not good and you will need to have him or her on your side. If they don't want to help you and you can tell if they are by giving you excuses. If this happens ask him or her for a meeting with your next person in your NCO support channel. There are many reasons why this is happening but you need to go about it the right way!

I had to prove I was worthy of the rank of Specialist. That meant, leading soldiers in tasks within my MOS, giving classes on component theory of operation, showing initiative and a passing APFT score of at least 260. I excelled in all of those quite proficiently!

A unit only gets so many slots for each rank. There was a time where you could hold a slot one rank above or two ranks below your current rank, but with drawdowns and cuts, they've put a stop to that. When I first joined the Guard back in 07, they were generous with E3 to E4 promotions. By the time we left Iraq, we didn't have anyone below the rank of E4. It was good for everyone's bank account at the time, but in the end it screwed everyone because it created a log jam. It only gets worse as you ascend the ladder too. You end up waiting for someone to die or retire.

Sorry there Shock Trooper, but in my opinion NO promotion should be automatic. Every promotion should be earned.

I don't know how the Army promotion method works, but promotion from E-3 to E-4 happens automatically after TIG/TIS and skill level requirements are met. That's provided there's no detected crime.
Unit Commanders get a print out from MAJCOM or AFPC and have to red line troops that are ineligible.

Been a long time for me, but I thought there were two issues, minimum time to be eligible for promotion, so you can't get it prior to a certain time. I made SP4 in 18mo back in the 70's, which was the minimum time you had to serve to get promoted. My boss liked me and I guess it did not affect any type of slot or position. There used to also a point in time if you do not reach a certain, rank , you could be kicked out of the service when I was in. I did not stay in long enough to hit any of those mile markers. I never heard of any automatic promotiio, but like I said, that was 40 years ago, times change.

Yes it is automatic if you have no field grade articles. Mine was automatic though that was 3 years ago