So does anyone have any idea on why so many rates are locked up right now and they are barley advancing anyone? Does it have to do with the budget? Does it have to do with the IS rating? Are they still trying to figure the numbers?
YN2 went from clearing that like 4 or more SWE to the current revised May 07 SWE cut being 1. I took the Nov 07 for the first time, and currently 37, is there even a chance I will advance now?
Is there anyone on here from PSC (adv) that may know facts? I have heard the saying choose your rate choose your fate, but how do you go from clearing the Nov 06 list to as of now advancing 1 on the May 07?
Yeah, I took the Nov 07 SWE so I am just dreading the first cut, I am very nervious. I am prior service Army, so I actually have over 6 years of service, and as a YN3 the pay just isn't where I should be. But I guess thats what happens when I decide to come in as a SN rather than the MK3 that I was offered (just didn't want to turn wrenches anymore, I was a watercraft engineer in the Army, and yes the Army does have boats. I have over 3 years sea time, to bad none of it counts for SWE purposes).
I'll clear up one thing: It has absoloutley NOTHING to do with budget. Nada, zip, Zero.
Advancements trends are cyclical. The CG Grows at times, and then advancement fly for a while. We never grow only at the E-2 level. When we grow, we grow at all paygrades. When you add a bunch of E-6s, you will see a couple of years of rapid advancments. Why? Becuase we really hire E-1s to 'fill' those new E-6 jobs! People in between the E-1 and the E-6s benifit for a short time with faster than normal advancements. Then - those E-1s eventually fill up the slots and advancements go back to normal. Further - we are experiencing RECORD retention still. When people don't leave, we don't advance anyone to replace them!
I have been waiting for the wave to crash for a while! I remember in the mid 80s when the cut off for some rates was 0. We have been lucky the past few years thanks to some bad ideas such as High Year tenure and the RIFFS for those who did not or could not ride the wave good luck !
You can get a sense of what the ratings look like by going to the below site. There are many workforce reports to look at. If you look at certain ones you can see which ratings/paygrades are over. That will offer some insight of what might be on the horizon for promo's....or lack there of.
Just be careful when trying to make assumptions based on those reports. I get paid to do this everyday and those reports are primarily targeted to people in my position. I have been doing this and looking at those reports regularly for more than 2 1/2 years and I still can not make any sensible advancement predictions off of them. (and I have access to even more info than is there!) Further, very small technical details need to be understood such as TAB, SAB and NDPO billets and their affect on multiple items.
