how many years does it take to go from an E4 to E5 in military?

Answer 1

18 months and up...

Answer 2

My husband was in the same situation a couple months ago. He went from E4 to E5 in SIX months. Six months is the minimum time in grade for E4. You test when you are ready. My husband got the PFE Gold program and did great. He did however have the full backing of his command. He gotten extrememly high marks on his evals and his command really pushed him to make the rank. My husband joined as an E-2 got his E-3 coming out of Basic. He got from E-2 to E-5 in exactly 3 years. GOOD LUCK! He is Air Force by the way. Other branches may differ

Answer 3

depends on the branch i have been an E4 for 9 months and i am going to the E5 board in january

Answer 4

In the Army it based on a promotion points system. The points are determined by the need for NCO's (Seargents) in each particular MOS's (Career Field). If they need allot of NCO's in one MOS then the points will be low If the MOS's is over strength then the points will be high. So technically you can be a squared away trooper who gets to go in front of the promotion board after meeting the minimum TIG and TIS (Time in grade and Time in service) requirements, pass the board with flying colors but then sit and wait for months or years for the points to drop low enough for you to get promoted.

That applys for promtions to the grade of E-5 and E-6. For E-7 through E-9 you are selected by DA (Department of the Army). You don't personaly appear before a promotion board. You are selected by a promotion committie who reviews your records and your DA Photo.

Let me add that this info was accurate when I was in from 1983-1991. If the process has changed some one feel free to correct me.

Answer 5

Well generally speaking it depends on what service you are in. For instance in the navy, and i know that the other branches here will really kill me for this but hey, i went from E-2 all the way to E-5 in less than three years. But i busted my *** and studied alot for our advancement exams. In the navy once you put on E4 with EP evals or early promote evals you can take the test after just one year in rate. If sadly you cant get to EP evals then you must wait two years before you are elidgable to take the advancement exams. But here is our advancement structur E1 9 months till E2. E2 is 9 months to E3. And from E3 its 6 months to be elidgable to take the PO3 or E4 exam. After E4 its two years or one with EP evals. Then from E5 to E6 its 3 years or 2 with EP evals. And that trend follows all the way up to E8. But that is if your Navy. I busted my *** i was 1 of 20 out 473 people to advace this last cycle. But hey i earned it... Best of luck

Answer 6

It varies. In the Air Force you test for E-5 (Staff Sergeant). I made it first time testing and sowed on the stripe at 5 yrs from my enlistment date. From SrA to SSgt, since I made it early, I had to wait a year to put my stripe on. That was after apprx. six months as an E-4. All in all, took me 1 1/2 yr to make the jump.

Answer 7

I think my daughter told me that she was eligible to test 6 months after sewing on E-4.
She went "below the zone" for E-4, and right after that was selected as AFSC Airman of the Year (automatic stripe) but still had to wate until eligible to test before she could sew on E-5. She made E-5 in 3 years in service.

Answer 8

well me personally i was promoted within a year
it all depends on several things the promotion board, when a slot opens up , get into sgt. school many different things apply I know of 1 guy he was promotable for 4 years he left out of the service with 7-8 years as an e-4
I wish you good luck

Answer 9

I remember that to go from a specialist to a sargeant one must pass a course called NOC which lasts a few weeks. Not that tough considering some idiots I've known in the Army became sargeants.

Answer 10

it all depends on your mos and your branch. my hubby was an e-4 for 1 year and he got e-5 by star reenlisting by the way he is a nuke in the us navy. he is now working on e-6

Answer 11

Not usually many. It depends on the rate you chose, how many openings, if you passed the test, what your score was, how your record looks, and if you apply for it. Good luck.