Generally curious question about military

[Key West]

Excuse my ignorance. If you are enlisted in the army/navy/air force/navy, you start out as Private. What's the highest rank you can achieve without 'education'? Is there a hard career cap?

What if you graduate out of West Point, you start out as an Officer right? What's rank do you start at for that?

 

[PrinceofWands]

Generally speaking enlisted personnel can begin between E1 and E3, depending on various factors. It's possible to earn advancements in boot camp, as well as subsequent military schools/training, but it would be VERY rare to advance farther than E4 before actually being posted somewhere.

Once in, there is no limit to your advancement. While schooling will usually help, it isn't absolutely necessary in order to max out one's enlisted rank (E9). I'm not certain, but I believe you could also progress through Warrant Officer ranks without school.

 

[HannibalX]

Here's a list of all the US Military ranks. You can click each one for a description.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:United_States_uniformed_services_comparative_ranks

 

[Key West]

Generally speaking enlisted personnel can begin between E1 and E3, depending on various factors. It's possible to earn advancements in boot camp, as well as subsequent military schools/training, but it would be VERY rare to advance farther than E4 before actually being posted somewhere.

Once in, there is no limit to your advancement. While schooling will usually help, it isn't absolutely necessary in order to max out one's enlisted rank (E9). I'm not certain, but I believe you could also progress through Warrant Officer ranks without school.

I find that very interesting.

What exactly is E1-9 anyway? Does that system hold true for all military? Navy/army/marine/etc.

How do ranks spread out for E1-E9 (private, sargent, lieutenant, etc)

 

[HannibalX]

E stands for enlisted, anyone can sign up and enlist in the military. O stands for officer; officers attend military school and are commissioned and there are additional prerequisites, usually a college education but equivalent work experience is sometimes considered. 1-9 are the individual ranks, E1, E4, O4, O6, etc.

Check out the link I posted.

 

[PrinceofWands]

I find that very interesting.

What exactly is E1-9 anyway? Does that system hold true for all military? Navy/army/marine/etc.

How do ranks spread out for E1-E9 (private, sargent, lieutenant, etc)

Enlisted personnel are E1-E9, officers are O1-O10, Warrant Officers (specialists, rating somewhere between a high enlisted and low-mid officer) are W1-W5. That is true of all services (though I don't know for sure if the air force has warrant officers).

The names/titles are different for the different branches.

 

[Proprioceptive]

Generally speaking enlisted personnel can begin between E1 and E3, depending on various factors. It's possible to earn advancements in boot camp, as well as subsequent military schools/training, but it would be VERY rare to advance farther than E4 before actually being posted somewhere.

Once in, there is no limit to your advancement. While schooling will usually help, it isn't absolutely necessary in order to max out one's enlisted rank (E9). I'm not certain, but I believe you could also progress through Warrant Officer ranks without school.

You can enlist as an E-4 (Specialist) if you already have a bachelor's degree

 

[Key West]

Enlisted personnel are E1-E9, officers are O1-O10, Warrant Officers (specialists, rating somewhere between a high enlisted and low-mid officer) are W1-W5. That is true of all services (though I don't know for sure if the air force has warrant officers).

The names/titles are different for the different branches.

So if you never went to school to earn an officer rank, you'll never get into O as an E?

 

[Proprioceptive]

It is important to denote that the E-1 thru E-9 and O-1 thru O-10 are paygrade indicators. The rank is separate. An E-5 is generally a sergeant, but I am a Private First Class with E-6 pay. I also know a few E-5s who are receiving E-6 pay. There are several factors that can affect this.

 

[Proprioceptive]

So if you never went to school to earn an officer rank, you'll never get into O as an E?

No, if you're Enlisted, you must go through Officer schooling to attain an officer rank and paygrade.

 

[PrinceofWands]

You can enlist as an E-4 (Specialist) if you already have a bachelor's degree

NICE. Glad to see that...E3 was as high as you could enter when I was in.

 

[Proprioceptive]

NICE. Glad to see that...E3 was as high as you could get when I was in.

I know that this was the case 2 years ago, however the Army has changed a lot of their enlistment requirements, so this may have changed. I'd have to talk to a recruiter.

 

[PrinceofWands]

So if you never went to school to earn an officer rank, you'll never get into O as an E?

There are, or at least have been, other ways to achieve officer ranks without a college degree. Before you become one you'll go through an officer training program, just like enlisted personnel go through their own bootcamp.

 

[PrinceofWands]

It is important to denote that the E-1 thru E-9 and O-1 thru O-10 are paygrade indicators. The rank is separate. An E-5 is generally a sergeant, but I am a Private First Class with E-6 pay. I also know a few E-5s who are receiving E-6 pay. There are several factors that can affect this.

Yeah, I should have broke that down, but I figured it would be confusing.

 

[Proprioceptive]

There are, or at least have been, other ways to achieve officer ranks without a college degree. Before you become one you'll go through an officer training program, just like enlisted personnel go through their own bootcamp.

Most bachelor's degrees are 120 credit hours of schooling. You have to have 90 to accept your commission as an officer. I believe you must fully attain the 120 hours to become Captain (O3) and more often than not, a graduate degree is needed when advancing to Major (O4) and above.

 

[Key West]

No, if you're Enlisted, you must go through Officer schooling to attain an officer rank and paygrade.

Ah. Good stuff. I find it interesting since, unlike biz, military ladder is pretty rigidly defined (in Biz, you come up with a niche, you can jump way up as a bad example).

So let's say a Private does something amazing in battle.. like in the movie Inglorious Basterds. He found himself in a unique and advantageous position and kills many many men alone, saves many lives (inclunding a general) and turned a critical mission into success.

And high ups love him for it, can the private jump up in rank as an Officer way up? Or he just gets medals?

 

[HannibalX]

Advancing in rank for enlisted guys is based more on work, for officer's it's all political.

 

[Proprioceptive]

Ah. Good stuff. I find it interesting since, unlike biz, military ladder is pretty rigidly defined (in Biz, you come up with a niche, you can jump way up as a bad example).

So let's say a Private does something amazing in battle.. like in the movie Inglorious Basterds. He found himself in a unique and advantageous position and kills many many men alone, saves many lives (inclunding a general) and turned a critical mission into success.

And high ups love him for it, can the private jump up in rank as an Officer way up? Or he just gets medals?

Medals. There are pretty strict requirements for promotion in the Army. HOWEVER, this does not mean there is some crazy exception to the rule way out there. And even if there is, I highly doubt he/she skipped more than one rank.

 

[Proprioceptive]

Advancing in rank for enlisted guys is based more on work, for officer's it's all political.

THIS. In the enlisted ranks, you have your schools that you go to and promotion points/boards. As an officer there are all kinds of officer boards which take performance and recommendations from other officers into effect. It becomes very political.

 

[nutxo]

Ah. Good stuff. I find it interesting since, unlike biz, military ladder is pretty rigidly defined (in Biz, you come up with a niche, you can jump way up as a bad example).

So let's say a Private does something amazing in battle.. like in the movie Inglorious Basterds. He found himself in a unique and advantageous position and kills many many men alone, saves many lives (inclunding a general) and turned a critical mission into success.

And high ups love him for it, can the private jump up in rank as an Officer way up? Or he just gets medals?

There are battlefield commissions

 

[Key West]

Medals. There are pretty strict requirements for promotion in the Army. HOWEVER, this does not mean there is some crazy exception to the rule way out there. And even if there is, I highly doubt he/she skipped more than one rank.

What good are medals in real life other than pride/honor/bragging rights? Do they come with hefty compensation?

Thanks for all the answers.

 

[Proprioceptive]

What good are medals in real life other than pride/honor/bragging rights? Do they come with hefty compensation?

Thanks for all the answers.

Pride pretty much. A lot of the guys I serve with, however, don't really care about them. Some guys are pretty gung ho about them and display them proudly, but they don't get you any kind of monetary compensation unless it results in a promotion. It might increase the size of your e-peen, though!

 

[PrinceofWands]

Medals. There are pretty strict requirements for promotion in the Army. HOWEVER, this does not mean there is some crazy exception to the rule way out there. And even if there is, I highly doubt he/she skipped more than one rank.

You'd be AMAZED at how easy it is to push-button (promotion out of step). I entered as an E1 in February. In April I was an E2. At the end of June I was an E3. In July I was an E4. I separated out after 20 months, but had I stayed in another couple months I already had my points and rubber stamp to E5. While not many people go quite that crazy there were a lot of us that that received 1-2 promotions just in boot camp and our first school.

Field promotions and commissions are another method, and what the OP was speculating on. One downside to those is that they're often rescinded at the end of the operation.

Something for the OP to consider: never confuse rank with authority. You can have ENORMOUS responsibility and authority at a relatively low rank, and you can hold a respectfully high rank having never really been in charge of anything, or doing much that was special.

 

[PrinceofWands]

What good are medals in real life other than pride/honor/bragging rights? Do they come with hefty compensation?

Thanks for all the answers.

Some of the highest honors carry some esoteric civilian benefits (seating at state functions, authorization to wear out of uniform or on civilian uniforms, certain license plates, etc.

A more tangible reward is lowered tuition for those that were awarded campaign ribbons/patches and similar awards. I imagine some would also look good on a resume (ie marksman ribbons for a potential law enforcement officer, etc).

 

[Key West]

Thank you all for very helpful and expert insight.

I'm surprised the thread didn't troll out this long.

[edit] One LAST question:
How do special bureaucracies work? FBI/CIA/etc. I reckon you go to same military schools (i.e. West Point) then just apply for those branches instead of Army/Navy/etc?

I don't think you can just enlist to be in FBI.