I was an E4 out of boot camp.
It often depends on length of your enlistment and what you sign up to do.
Sign up to be a swabbie with no guarantees of advancement and you get what you get.
It would be interesting to know what this fellows rate was.
I think someone said he was an AE Aviation Electronics Technician, That is and advanced rate and he should have been an E5 within a few years.
I was taking and passing the E6 test within 6 years.
Aviation Electronics is AT. Aviation Electrician is AE.
When I was in you had to be an E-3 for a minimum of one year before you could take the petty officer exam. Plus you had to have 2 years remaining to sew on the crow if you passed. I cross rated from AEAN to CECN and had to start counting time all over. My score on the CE3 exam was PNA, passed but not advanced, because I had less than two years left on my enlistment.
E-4 out of BOOTCAMP! They still recruit ‘Pushbuttons’? That’s what we used to call ‘em :)