Is it hard to get promoted in the army? Here on Armorama it seems like anyone can become a general. (Joke) :-)

Depends on the rank. In the US military, going from Second Lieutenant to First Lieutenant (O-1 to O-2) is automatic after a set period in time. This time has been as long as 2 years and currently dropped back down to 1½ years. Same with enlisted ranks from Private (E-1) to Private (E-2) to Private First Class (E-3). It is automatic after a certain period of time.

First Lieutenant to Captain is a little tougher, but again, the folks who aren't going to make it normally already know and are making plans to leave the military. Captain to Major is rather competitive as this is when an officer enters the career range. Selection rates have ranged from 77% during the 1990s drawdown to 95% in recent years.

US Army noncommissioned officer (NCO) promotions are based on a points system. Soldiers earn points for various activities like awards, schooling, physical training and evaluations. If the Army needs NCOs in various specialties, they drop the "cut off" scores from 998 points to a lower number (say 798 for example) that gets enough soldiers promoted to meet the needs.

Here in Italy up to Le. Colonel everything happens automatically after a certain period of time. Afterwords it's only upon the eval of your curriculum and nothing else i guaranteed.

Hi there i'm in the Royal Air Force Police and at the moment (in fact the last few years) it quite litteraly "Dead Mens Shoes" people seem to get promoted amongst the junior ranks on other duties not on there primary job so a guy who collects money for charity for a few tears (and kisses butt) gets promoted much faster than a no nonsense guy like me who just does his job 110% and looks after his family. Maybe i'm just paranoid lol
but me and 100s of others

In the Australian Army - for NCOs at least - promotion is a time/merit based system. Also in some Corps you get promoted faster than in others. It took me 8 yrs to get from Pte to Cpl, but that was with a transfer from Infantry to Signals in between.

:-) In the british Army (Engineers anyway) Your first step on the promotional ladder is via a cardre, all NCO's must complete one. To get on one you have show some aptitude and initiative. On completion promotion is not automatic, depends on need and how well you performed on the course. Promotion after that is based on appraisles and relevant courses completed. There is no promotion based on time in post or job. However I have known of at least 2 instances where an NCO (one a Sergeant, the other a Staff Sergeant) have been promoted, to get them out of the way. The Sergeant became my troop Staff Sergeant, I was a sapper (private soldier in the Royal Engineers) at the time, in germany. I witnessed how moral can get effected by one idiot. Before he arrived the Troop moral couldn't have been higher and times were good. He arrived and totally reversed that, inside 2 days. My first tour in Northern Ireland in 1972 (the worst year of the troubles) was under that prick. It was during that tour though, that I was selected to do my cardre. On completion of which I was promoted to Lance Corporal and posted to another Troop. Incidentally I was busted twice and re-instated before making Corporal :-)
Mal

Getting a higher promotion is hard nowadays especially if there is no war going around. It takes up years of service before getting a high rank and getting promoted. In the Philippine Army, getting a Lt. promotion is easy. When you want to become a captain, it would take up years depending on your service.

There are OTS's (Officer Training Schools) in the country...Basically, when you enter these schools, you graduate as 2nd Lieutenant.... So that's your initial rank...You begin as a commissioned officer. You start from there and earn your promotions....

If you happen to be an NCO, becoming a commissioned officer is a lot of hard work... You really have to cut your teeth on the frontlines to be deserving...

In times of peace,it usually takes years of service to get promoted.... But when there is war, it's a lot faster... Many factors affect this... (Exemplary Service, Bravery, Death of superiors, etc...)

Thanks for hearing me out!

That's true. That's why some soldiers like war to get promoted easily. (I think)