Never knew an E-4 with a spotless record who could stay for 20 years in the Air Force. If I remember correctly, enlisted members had to reach E-5 by the 13 year point, or they faced involuntary separation.
The Air Force has long had the slowest promotions among its NCO Corps. Naturally, the needs of the service come first (as you learn from Day One of basic training). But the size of your career field/AFSC also plays a factor. If you’re in a small speciality or career field (in terms of manning) your advancement may come at a glacial pace.
I know this from personal experience. During my enlisted days, I was a unit historian, now the 3H0X1 career field. During my tenure, there were less than 150 airmen in the AFSC, and there were only two E-8 and one E-9 slot in our career field. Additionally, a number of us had our bachelor’s degrees, so everyone tended to do well on their promotion tests.
In other words, the Air Force didn’t need to promote very many historians to keep the career field balanced and it was a very competitive group. As a result, the cutoff scores for E-5 and E-6 were often 90-100 points higher than other career fields. Over the course of a typical year, it was common for a couple of individuals to make SSgt (E-5); one person made E-6 and another would advance to E-7 (MSgt). Typically, the historians who got promoted had the most time in grade, and you could determine where you stood on the list.
I was lucky; my test for E-5 came before I earned my five skill-level in the historian career field, so IAW Air Force policies, I tested only on the professional knowledge portion of the exam. Many of the questions were weighted to USAF history, customs, organization—topics everyone in the career field were intimately familiar with. As a result, I made E-5 in three years and nine months, which was meteoric by Air Force standards. After that, I made the decision to apply for Officer Training School and (fortunately) I was accepted. If I had remained in my enlisted career field, I faced a 6-7 year wait for E-6 and a similar wait (beyond that) for E-7.
By that tine,a lot of the fast burners in large career fields and low cutoff scores would have been pinning on SMSgt (E-8) or Chief Master Sergeant (E-9). My career advancement prospects as an officer were much better than as an enlisted historian, even though I loved the job and would have gladly spent my career in that vocation.
As a rule, Air Force enlisted promotions are slow, but in some of the very small AFSCs, the pace is snail-like.
I believe you. I met the lady back in 2002, if I remember correctly. That was her story to me. I knew nothing of her professionally, just dating.
I did work with a lot of other Air Force people though. Since I was an AF contractor it was all on a professional basis. Work and after hours life did not mix for the most part.