E-2 E-4

Decentralized Promotions (E-2 through E-4)

Promotion Authority: Company

When soldiers refer to “automatic promotions”; these are the promotions they are talking about. However, these promotions are not officially automatic. You do have to qualify to get promoted. The reason these promotions are considered automatic by most is that the qualifications to get promoted are very easy to achieve. In fact, you would almost have to be trying to not get promoted for it not to happen.

Army Time in Grade Requirements

• Private (E-2): 6 months time in grade (TIG) as an E-1.

• Private First Class (E-3): 4 months TIG as an E-2 and 12 months time in service (TIS).

• Specialist (E-4): 6 months TIG and 2 years TIS.

Waivers

Unit Commanders are given a specific number of waivers that they can choose to use for exemplary soldiers. These waivers shorten the TIG and/or TIS requirement for promotion.

• An E-1 can get promoted to Private (E-2) with only 4 months TIG with a waiver.

• An E-2 can get promoted to PFC (E-3) with only 2 months TIG and 6 months TIS with a waiver.

• An E-3 can get promoted to SPC (E-4) with only 3 months TIG and 18 months TIS with a waiver.

Other Army Promotion Requirements

Once a soldier has satisfied his or her TIS and TIG requirements, they must be promotable in all other aspects as well. This means they can not have any “flags” on their record. Flags are given for things such as APFT failure, failure to meet height and weight standards, punitive actions, etc.

“Who you are on a daily basis is who you are when you compete. If you want to be a champion, you have to have the mindset of a champion every day.”

– Jerry Ignalls, Olympic Weight Lifter