Rock on boys.
Here's a question- one troop says "I've only been in six years, and I've made my E-6, so I'm going to stay in," Danko said. "When we get back, I'm going to put in for Drill Sergeant. My goal is to make E-7 in 10 (years)
What are the common times in service for the various ranks? I remember E2 at six months, '3 at one year, Spc4 at commander's discretion, but usually around two years, and E5 at four/five years (back in 80-83)
What are average times now for E5, 6,7, etc.? Anybody?
10 years to E-7 isn't too bad ... it's possible if you're a sharp troop and in an MOS that has competitive standards/qualifications. A lot depends here on whether the promotion points were low enough for E-5 and E-6 to get promoted quickly after your promotion board.
If you take a lot of college courses in your off-duty time and all of the correspondence courses that your MOS offers, you will have an excellent chance of getting selected at 10.
12 or 13 to E-7 is probably about normal. If you haven't made E-7 by 15 or so, I'd say that it was probably too late to hope for promotion.