Military Promotions

Average time-in-service for enlisted promotions to the grades of E-5 through E-9.

An enlisted person cannot stay in the military forever. An enlisted person must be promoted by certain time-frames during their career, or they must separate from the service. This is known as the "High Year of Tenure" (HYT).

Part 11 of What the Recruiter Never Told You, the ultimate guide to joining the United States Military. In Part 11, an overview of the Military Enlisted Promotion Systems.

The chart on this page is derived from DOD Instruction 1320.13. It shows the point where commissioned officers (in any of the services) can expect to be promoted (assuming they are selected for promotion), based upon their time-in-service.