Air Force Promotions
Air Force PROMOTIONS
In the Air Force overtime you’ll move up in rank. There are certain criteria you must meet in order to move up through the Air Force rank structure and this page is here to break that down so you can focus on achieving whatever is your next promotion.
Promoting From E-1 to E-2
In order to be promoted to E-2 you must have 6 Months Time in Service as an E-1. Since E-1 is the starting rank for people who don’t get advanced promotions when first joining, that your Time in Service starts the Day you left for BMT. If you joined the Air Force on March 1st and came in as an E-1, you would be promoted to E-2 on September 1st.
Promoting From E-2 to E-3
When promoting from E-2 to E-3 you’ll need a little more experience before they let you move up. So this promotion requires 10 months Time in Grade as an E-2. This means from the Day you were promoted to E-2, it will be 10 months from that day when you get promoted to E-3. If you Were Promoted to E-2 on September 1st, you would be promoted to E-3 on July 1st the following year.
Now there are some stipulations to this rule due to advanced promotion rules when first joining. When signing a 6 year contract the rule is a little different. The 6 year contract states that you can automatically be promoted to E-3 upon completion of Air Force Technical School Training and your Time in Grade for E-3 will be backdated to the day you graduated BMT. BMT is roughly 2 months long, and Tech School ranges from 30 days to 9 months for a majority of jobs in the Air Force. This means that you can be promoted to E-3 faster with a 6 year contract. However, promoting faster to E-3 with a 6 year contract doesn’t help you beyond E-4 so the benefit is more short term than long term. Don’t sign a 6 year contract simply because you can become E-3 faster.
Promoting from E-3 to E-4
Promoting from E-3 to E-4 can feel like an eternity. The requirements are 28 months Time in Grade as E-3 or 36 months Time in Service with 20 months Time in grade at E-3, whichever comes first.
If you joined as an E-3 you’ll promote to E-4 at your 28th month mark in the Air Force.
If you joined as an E-1 or E-2 with a 6 year contract you’ll promoted to E-4 at your 30 month mark in the Air Force since you’re date or rank for E-3 is set to your BMT graduation date (2 months at BMT, and 28 months as E-3 = 30 months).
If you came in as an E-1 with a 4 contract you’ll promote a little slower, however, you’ll promote slower in the short term but long term there isn’t really any effect. As an E-1 you’ll be in for 6 months before promoting to E-2. Then you’ll be E-2 for 10 months before promoting to E-3, which is 16 months total in the Air Force. In order to become an E-4 you’ll have to have 28 months Time in Grade as an E-3 or 36 months Time in Service with 20 months Time in Grade. In this case you’ll hit the 36 months Time in Service with 20 months Time in Grade first so you’ll be promoted to E-4 at your 3 year (36 month) mark in the Air Force.
If you came in as an E-2 with a 4 year contract you’ll promote a little slower, however, you’ll promote slower in the short term but long term there isn’t really any effect. As an E-2 you’ll be in for 10 months before promoting to E-3. In order to become an E-4 you’ll have to have 28 months Time in Grade as an E-3 or 36 months Time in Service with 20 months Time in Grade. In this case you’ll hit the 36 months Time in Service with 20 months Time in Grade first so you will be promoted to E-4 at your 3 year (36 month) mark.
Promoting from E-4 to E-5
This is where promotions get fun, or stressful, it depends if you like competition and testing. Promoting to E-5 requires 3 years Time in Service, 6 months Time in Grade as E-4, scoring high enough in the WAPS (Weighted Airman Promotion System) tests, Received good ratings on your last few EPRs (enlisted Performance Reports), and have completed Airman Leadership School (ALS) prior to promotion. Promoting to E-5 is a lot more in depth than the other ranks so we will be working on writing a blog post for this in the near future. overall, if you know your job, do your job well, and stay out of trouble. You’ll have very little issues promoting from E-4 to E-5.
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