Military

What was going for a promotion like in the military?

Insider shares the process of military promotions

What was going for promotion like in the military? So obviously I can only speak for what it's like for the United States Army on active duty. So from my experiences, well first of all for E1 through E4, that's automatic. If you're in the United States Army and you're not getting into trouble, you're automatically you go from private to specialist automatically in a certain time frame. But to go to the next higher up, to get to sergeant, to get to E5, that does take a little bit of work. That requires your leadership to nominate you, to go to the board, and then actually try to, you know, kind of present yourself and answer a bunch of questions. So from my experience, I, you know, was sent to the Soldier of the Month board to get a little bit of practice. A lot of people still do that today even. And then a practice for the board, then I went to the actual promotion board, give my answers to all the questions, ran confident is usually the key thing, and then hopefully you pass. And then you have to make points, you have to go to a leadership school, and then you get promoted. And that kind of continues for both E5 and E6, and then after E7 it's all about what you've done in the military to be looked at to see if you qualify to get promoted. So there you go. That's how you get promoted.

Promotion in the US Army requires your leadership to nominate you and then you must pass a promotion board, demonstrate your knowledge and remain confident. You also have to make points and go to leadership school for higher up promotions.

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Going for a promotion in the military, specifically in the United States Army on active duty, is a process that varies depending on the rank. For ranks E1 to E4, promotion is automatic as long as one remains out of trouble within a certain timeframe. However, advancing to the next rank, such as sergeant (E5), requires additional effort. Leadership nomination and participation in a promotion board are necessary steps. Many soldiers, including myself, were sent to the Soldier of the Month board for practice before facing the actual promotion board. The key is to present oneself confidently and answer questions effectively. Passing the board is crucial. Accumulating points and attending leadership schools are often required for promotions at E5 and E6 ranks. Beyond E7, promotions are based on one's achievements and qualifications in the military. This process continues to determine eligibility for further advancement.

Do military member have to pay any Fee for leave or fiancee forms?

Beware of Scammers: Military Members Don't Pay Fees!

Do military member have to pay any fee for leave or fiance form? Just from reading that question, I can already tell you, you are talking to a scammer. I have seen this question many, many times. I've helped a lot of individuals to reach out to me on social media because they want to know about fiance forms, fees for going on leave, fees for coming home, and it's always because they're talking to somebody who's trying to scam you. There is no fee that you have to do when you go to take leave. You have the normal stuff, having to pay for a flight and your travel and whatever your vacation is going to be. There is no fiance form. If someone in the military wants to get married, they go through the normal chain of channels that you go through normally to get married, to go talk to the courthouse, to go talk to the wherever to get the marriage license, all of that stuff. There is no specific fee to get married other than the marriage license fee. So if someone is telling you they need money for a fee to go home for leave, they need fee for you to be their fiance, it's a scam. You are talking to a scammer. Sorry.

If someone is telling you that you need to pay a fee for leave or a fiance form, it's a scam. There is no fee associated with taking leave in the military or getting married.

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Military members do not have to pay any fees for leave or fiancee forms. If someone is asking for money related to these matters, it is likely a scam. There is no fee required for taking leave in the military, aside from the regular expenses associated with travel and vacation. When it comes to getting married, military members go through the standard processes like obtaining a marriage license, just like anyone else. There is no specific fee for being a military member's fiancee. So, if someone is requesting money for these reasons, it's important to be aware that you are dealing with a scammer.

From NASCAR dreams to unexpected military experience

So I originally joined the military, in this case, the United States Army, because I wanted the experience. My original plan was to join the army, become a mechanic, spend four years in the army, get out and go to a trade school for automotive, and then hopefully become a NASCAR mechanic. Not working in the pit crew, but working in like the garage, rebuilding engines. Well, turned out I had a red green color blind, so I was eliminated from it. It'll be a mechanic. So didn't get to do that. So I became an ADA Mike instead. So nonetheless, I was still going to try to do four years, get the military experience, and then get out and go to a trade school or go to college. Four years, kind of one thing led to another, to another, and then eventually became almost 11 years, mostly because of the Iraq war going on and a lot of other kind of challenges that kind of just led it to be much longer than it originally anticipated to be. But originally, it was always meant to be a stepping stone. It was never my intent to spend 20 plus years and retire. It was supposed to be to get the experience, go to college afterwards, and have that military background.

I joined the army to get experience and go to college afterwards, ended up staying for 11 years due to war and other challenges.

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I enlisted in the military, specifically the United States Army, because I wanted to gain experience. My initial plan was to join as a mechanic, spend four years in the army, and then attend trade school for automotive studies. My goal was to become a NASCAR mechanic, working behind the scenes in engine rebuilding rather than on the pit crew. However, my plans changed when I discovered that I was red-green color blind, which disqualified me from becoming a mechanic. Instead, I became an ADA Mike. Despite this setback, I still intended to serve for four years, gain military experience, and then pursue trade school or college. However, due to various factors such as the Iraq war and other challenges, my military service ended up lasting nearly 11 years. Originally, it was always meant to be a stepping stone for me. My intention was never to serve for over 20 years and retire; it was always about gaining valuable experience and using that military background as a foundation for my future endeavors in college.

Do you get weekends off in Army Basic Training?

No Days Off: The Reality of Army Basic Training

Do you get weekends off in Army basic training? No, definitely not. The closest thing you'll kind of get is like, on like, let's say Saturday for example. Saturday you're probably doing some sort of training still. You don't get any kind of time off on Saturday. You'll still be doing training, doing things on Saturday. The closest thing you kind of will get is sort of on Sundays, where Sunday you'll have time to like go to, like you know, to go to church. You know, you want to go and go to practice for whatever your religion is, then you can go to the church to listen to the pastor and listen to the preacher talk and everything like that. And if you don't do that, then you're usually gonna stay behind and clean up the barracks. And there's little moments of time where you'll get a little bit of time off to like write letters, use phones maybe, do other kinds of things, personal hygiene, everything. But essentially, you won't get any days off. You won't get that until possibly sort of like on family time at the end when you're graduating. After that, that stuff doesn't come until you actually get to your unit. In basic, no days off.

No, Army basic training does not provide any days off. The closest thing to a break is on Sundays, where you will have some time off for religious practice or to clean the barracks and do other personal tasks.

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In Army basic training, weekends off are not given. On Saturdays, you will continue with training and activities. The closest thing to a break might be on Sundays when you have the opportunity to attend religious services. If you choose not to attend, you'll likely stay behind to clean the barracks. During these times, there may be brief moments for personal tasks like writing letters, using phones, and personal hygiene. However, it's important to note that there are no days off during basic training. The possibility for time off usually comes during family time at the end of training or once you have completed basic training and join your assigned unit.

Mastering JBCB: Teaching Soldiers Critical Navigation Skills

What do you teach at Fort Carson? So I teach soldiers how to utilize a system known as JBCB. It's the FBCB2 system. It's the Blue Force Tracker, however some veterans may know it as, but essentially it's a navigation system that soldiers utilize to track other friendly units, their allies, coalition forces, send up reports, and all sorts of things on the battlefield. So typically it's mounted inside your vehicles and soldiers would use this out on missions whether they're deployed, training environments, whatever, and they also have another version of the system that can get set up like inside of a building or inside of a tent. But essentially I teach soldiers how to use that software so that way they can be proficient with it in a combat environment and in the field. And then I also have a maintainer course that I also teach as far as how to teach people how to like maintain it, how to troubleshoot it, how to like configure and set it up. So I teach the JBCB system at Fort Carson.

At Fort Carson, I teach soldiers how to use the JBC P system, which is a navigation system used to track friendly units on the battlefield. I also teach how to maintain, troubleshoot and configure it.

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At Fort Carson, I teach soldiers how to utilize the JBCB (FBCB2) system, also known as the Blue Force Tracker. This system is used for navigation and allows soldiers to track friendly units, allies, and coalition forces, as well as send reports on the battlefield. It is typically mounted inside vehicles but can also be set up in buildings or tents. My role is to teach soldiers how to use the software effectively in combat and field environments. Additionally, I teach a maintainer course that focuses on troubleshooting, configuring, and setting up the system. In summary, my main focus at Fort Carson is teaching soldiers how to use the JBCB system.

What is one thing you wish everyone knew about the Army?

Uncovering the Hidden Benefits of Army Pay

What is one thing you wish everyone knew about the army? Uh, the pay. A lot of people, I wish that they would understand better how the benefits work, how the pay works and everything, because what people often do is they go to look into joining the military, looking at joining the army, they look at the pay chart, they look at what does an E1 make for one month worth of pay. And it doesn't look like very much, and for a lot of situations, based on the hazards and everything else that might happen, it might not be very much. But, the key thing is, is that's not all you get, right? You have, let's say you're looking at, you know, the base pay for an E1, and you're like, man, that's like the equivalent of like $15 an hour. I can make better money working at this other place on the civilian side or whatever. And that's not all you get. For example, if you're a single soldier, you're not married, you get that base pay, but you also are provided with a free place to live. Normally on the civilian side, you would need to use your paycheck from your civilian employer to pay for your rent. You're not going to have to do that in the military because that rent is just free. You're given a place to live. And if you are a married soldier, well, then you get paid extra to be able to cover that. So then you get paid that BAH, or that basic allowance for housing, to get that extra pay. And so a lot of people just simply look at that base pay and think, man, that's not very much. But they don't understand all the other things you're also getting that you normally would have to pay for on the civilian side. So you got to do a little bit of research for all that stuff.

I wish people knew that there is more to the Army than just the base pay. Soldiers receive additional benefits including free housing, health care, and other allowances that make the overall compensation much higher than what is seen on a pay chart.

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One thing I wish everyone knew about the Army is the comprehensive benefits and pay structure. Many people tend to only look at the base pay and assume it's not much, comparing it to civilian jobs. However, it's important to understand that there are additional benefits provided. For example, single soldiers receive free housing, which eliminates the need to spend a portion of their paycheck on rent like civilians. Married soldiers also receive extra pay called Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) to cover housing expenses. These additional benefits often go unnoticed when solely focusing on the base pay. It's essential to research and understand the full range of benefits and compensation that come with serving in the Army.

Christopher Chaos answers your Military questions. See all the advice Christopher Chaos has and get answers to your own Military questions.

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I served almost 11 years on active duty in the US Army. I deployed twice to Iraq. During the day I am a military instructor on Fort Carson where I teach US Army soldiers and have done that for 10+ years. I also create Army related content on my YouTube channel with over 100K subscribers and more than 20 million views. 