What is the Maximum Time in Grade for Enlisted Soldiers, before the Army Separates a Soldier due to not moving into the next rank?

2019-06-19T05:03:42-04:00

Hopefully I can get this an answer today, I'm trying to find out about Enlisted Active Army Soldiers, and more specifically how long somebody can stay in their Rank, before they are mandatorily separated. I was told the answer is Eight years, but they told to go find out for myself. I have searched a lot of Army Regulations and their is no answer cut and dry... AR 601–280 Army Retention Program
AR 600-8-19 Enlistment promo and reductions
635-200 Active Duty Seperations
AR 135-178 Enlisted Administrative Seperations for NG and Reserve
AR 635-8 Seperations and Documents
AR 635-5-1 Seperation Program
AR 600-8-24 Officer Transfer and Discharges

(Maximum Time in Grade for Enlisted Soldiers) - If anyone knows where I can find this answer in Army Regulations please helpout, Thank you.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 19 at 2019 5:06 AM

2019-06-19T05:06:56-04:00

The quick answer is below. It's called Retention Control Points.

http://www.armyreenlistment.com/rcp.html

Retention Control Points (RCP)

Retention control points (RCP) are the maximum amount of years of active service, an enlisted Soldier can serve before they must either get promoted or leave the active Army.

Response by CW3 Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 19 at 2019 9:49 AM

2019-06-19T09:49:02-04:00

So I see you are National Guard. It works a bit differently in the guard mainly because there are limited slots in any given state for certain ranks/MOS. There is definitely a regulation on this, but, I don't think its strictly enforced the same way in the guard. It seems to be largely up to certain states and limits on TIG often seem to be far greater in the guard because of those limited slots. I have personally seen E1-E7 serving for many, many years (up to 20 years and beyond some times). For the most part though, once you hit 20 years enlisted Time-in-Service in most Guard states--if not all (regardless of rank/TIG), your packet will have to go before an Enlisted Qualitative Retention Board (EQRB), and not advancing is a big factor in whether or not you are retained past 20 years.

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Mar 16 at 2020 4:45 PM

2020-03-16T16:45:03-04:00

Depends on if your active/reserve/guard but mostly your mos and your unit I have met e4s in all components going on 15 years or more TIG because of there mos personal numbers being low.