I had the chance to talk to my sister's boyfriend again and he let me in on more information. It is really interesting. I am still confused about some of the language used, but I am getting better. This is mainly what we talked about when I saw him. It is a lot of information at first, but obvioulsy I was able to sit and take notes.
Most soldiers arrive as a Private, which holds a pay grade of E-1, although it is possible to join the army anywhere from Private (E-1) to Specialist (E-4) depending on the service member’s level of education or prior military service. Age plays no part in the rank structure. When a soldier reports to a duty station, they are evaluated from day one on different aspects of the army. Some things that are valued the most are military bearing, discipline, respect, loyalty, physical training, and the potential for increased responsibility. Once a soldier achieves the rank of Specialist (E-4) they begin to be evaluated on a different level, because the next step is to become a Non-commissioned officer. Non-commissioned officers consist of sergeant, staff sergeant, sergeant first-class, master sergeant/First sergeant, and sergeant major/command sergeant major. Sergeants are skill level 2 and usually have three soldiers they are responsible for. Staff Sergeants are skill level 3 and generally have two sergeants that work for them and three lower enlisted soldiers that work for each sergeant. The rank structure continues like that always increasing in soldiers and responsibility. The lowest level of Command Sergeant Major (E-9) has approximately 900 soldiers they are responsible for. A sergeant has two basin responsibilities, accomplish of their mission, and the welfare of their soldiers. A sergeant coaches, teaches and mentors each individual soldier to become better at their job, and more importantly to become a more developed adult.
2 comments:
Wow, you've been very informative in your comments and I've learned a lot already. I've always been interested in anything to do with the military since I've given considerable thought to joining myself. I've thought about doing the ROTC program as well. However, I obviously haven't made that commitment but still think even working for the government would be a noteworthy career of service. I've looked on www.usajobs.gov for various civilian positions and within the job descriptions were the pay scale indicators you mentioned. Thanks for the explanation!!
Sounds like you're talking to the right person. Is your friend active duty or reserves. I'm in the Army reserves and I've always heard about how much different it's than the active duty army. Even in basic, the drill sgt's frowned upon those who were in the reserves. At least mine did. I'm an E-4 in the reserves (specialist) but really I just consider myself an overpaid private. There is no distinction between a pvt and spc really, and generally, as soon as you get out of basic you get promoted to spc whether or not you deserve it or not. From spc on it's all up to you. You have to put in your own promotion packets and it becomes a little more difficult to get promoted.
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