HM Advancement
 

So I've been told that it is "easier" to advance rank in some rates compared to others...any particular requirements to advance from E-1 to E-3 during bootcamp? Is HM more challenging to rank up in? Is ranking up based solely on merit? I'm E-1 going in however, I had my PQS signed off already, after only DEPPING in two months ago today. I am the Recruit Education Petty Officer for my office so I know my material very well. Just wondering what it takes to advance

HM is one of the hardest rates to advance. A lot of people and it takes a long time to advance.

It is VERY rare to advance 2 levels in bootcamp...but you can advance prior to going if you get a certain amount of people to enlist before you go. So if you talk to your recruiter, see if you have time to get others to sign up and then you can go to boot as an E2. Then it is just a matter of time in grade to get to E3. As far as advancing higher..you will qualify to advance to E4 after a while just for time in grade, but you will have to test for it, and then there has to be the numbers they need. It works on a percentage. Lets say they need 100 new E4 HM's, and 130 pass the test...those with the highest scores, AND longer time in, AND points from like having done volunteer work or taken college classes online that year, etc. So only 100 will be promoted, the others will have to wait and test again on the next go around. Hope this helps!

Thanks sweetmtn that helps :)
Im just nervous because i'm not really all that book smart, just a hard worker, big studier so hopefully I'll get the numbers they need to advance. Thanks again!

Yeah, you'll probably see it when you go to bootcamp - there are a lot of E2 or E3 HMs working at medical there. They weren't new arrivals either, some had been to a school etc come back for several years. The bigger the rate is, the harder it is to advance.

Well...doesn't that suck for me. Any indication of advancement for HMDAs though?

Its all the same rate.

Just know that it is automatic to E3(unless you screw up), just need the time in grade to get there...advancing beyond that is all about testing, performance, outside work, ie: community service, online college etc, and how you do on your evaulations.

The greater the competition the better i perform. Doesn't stop me from being a worry wort while I have nothing to do but WAIT :rofl:

Going to my recruiter tomorrow to ask for a DAR. Long shots sometimes pay off right?

Have a family friend who made chief in 12 years as a HM. Honestly, if you just work 110%, do the jobs no one else wants to do, and show that you an get stuff done, then you'll show up more than those who have the same rate as you.


My father made chief in 9 years. His whole life was family < work, but he did it so he can support our family. He's a O-3 now and still kicking ass.

I spoke to my Chief yesterday about advancement in HM. He said it is only difficult in certain NEC's. Your NEC's will also help determine your advancement. He even showed me a recent promotions list for HM's that showed it broken down for the different NEC's. I found a CREO list for HM NEC's and if you are in an undermanned NEC within HM you have a better chance of being promoted. I didn't think you NEC would matter but my Chief showing me the breakdown on the Promotions list proved that it does. He did also tell me that if you are in a a NEC that is labeled as critical you can pretty much count on only doing that job for your entire Navy career. I want to be a HM-8452 Xray Tech, it is labeled critical so that is what I would be doing for my 20+ years and is also undermanned so better shot of being promoted.

Great info HMYert. We have a new Chief and the recruiters aren't painting a pretty picture of him. I really don't to bother him if I don't have to. Do you remember seeing whether HMDAs are critical or not? I really have my heart set on surgical tech.

I know Surgical Tech is Overmanned and it was critical. Not sure about HMDA's I will have to look that up. I was interested in Surgical Tech as well but with the manning levels I saw I am thinking of steering clear of them a little bit.

I received a call yesterday about HM opening on december 2nd...the slot is open but I cant fill the slot because HM for december apparently its over quota from HM already....this is my SECOND call ive gotten to leave early thats resulted in no where so far....dont get your hopes up

Quotas are set by region according to my classifier...He also said that the region has over sold HMs for the quarter. Ah well. My 3rd daughter will be born in December. I just spent more time with her.

My recruiter told me if you go in as HMDA, you stay for your entire career. It's possible to eventually get another NEC, but not likely.

Hopefuly, I don't repeat to many of the previous answers. I just quickly skimmed through the thread.

For all rates you will automatically advance to the next pay grade up to E-3 as long as you have enough "Time in Rate (TIR)".

E-1 to E-2 is 9 Months.
E-2 to E-3 is 9 Months.

After 6 months of being an E-3 you are eligible to take the next "advancement exam". There are only two "exam cycles" in a year. One in March and the other in September. So even if you reach 6 months TIR, you may have to wait for the next exam cycle. Also, I was lucky and only had 4 TIR when the exams came around and I was close enough that they allowed me to take the exam.

Now here's the fun part. You might score perfectly on the exam, but not advance. This is called Pass but did Not Advance (PNA) and will give you more points toward the next exam cycle.

Why can you score perfectly, but not advance? Well there are several factors that go toward your "Final Multiple" that determines who advances. First is the exam score. Second is your evaluation score. Third is your Award points. Fourth is your education points.

Your evaluation score is determined by several factors including work performance, military bearing, command involvement, and community service.

Award points are for certain awards you are given. http://usmilitary.about.com/library/...promotion3.htm

I believe education points are determined by what college degree you currently hold.

Now, the final bit of information. Only a certain percentage of test takers are eligible to advance per cycle. As the saying goes, you don't want too many Chiefs and not enough Indians.

So let's say 100 people took the advancement exam. 50 people got a passing score, but the "advancement quota" for their rate was only 20%. 20 people would advance. The other 30 who passed the exam, but didn't advance would receive PNA points. And the other 50 would receive nothing from the exam. In another 6 months the 70 people would be able to try again.

I hope that helps and isn't overly complicated to understand.

You can follow this page for updated information about quotas and who advanced: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Navy-...r/213190711299

As you can see only 15% of HMs were eligible to advance to E-4:
http://www.navy.mil/ah_online/docume...s_Cycle220.pdf

HM's have the worst advancement rate in the entire Navy. You're going to PNA your entire career. To give you a real world example, there's a fleet returnee HM re-rated (by choice) here with 4 years in. He's an E-3. If you want to do it, by all means go FMF and play with the marines. But don't go in thinking you're going to fast track to chief. You will have to do RDC shore duty if you want to be an E-7.

Specifically for HM, on the last cycle 6,288 eligible E-3's passed the exam, but only 1,065 were tapped to advance to E-4.

You will notice when you get to RTC that all RDC's have the same handful of rates. These rates all have terrible advancement because everyone wants to be an HM, MA, a seabee, aircrew, or pretty much any aviation rate, a CS, a BM, and a GM.

Pick what you love, just make sure you know what you're walking into for the next small chunk of your life.

Actually, Aviation seems to be the way to go. A lot of the rates are open for E-4 and still very decent for E-5.
I advanced to E-5 (currently frocked) with a 40% advancement rate! AM3 is still in the 70-80% range along with AT3. AT2 is "low" in the 20% I believe.

Still, as they say "choose your rate, choose your fate". The quotas will fluctuate and have their highs and lows. In general HM and MA are two popular rates that have very low percentages (probably due to their high number of people).

Are you even in the Navy? Holy crap, this is probably the most misleading crap I've ever read.

It's definitely true HM's do have one of the worst advancements in the Navy due to the volume of people in the rate. Of course there are always exceptions to advancement if you are a great test taker or a stellar sailor. I've come across HM's that have been in a long time and haven't advanced quickly. It takes a long time to advance for the average HM.

Lol I think I took that slot for HM cuz I got my contract that day for HM, still waiting to leave 20140618!

Congrads! How was/is A-school? Any advice?

Advancement from E1-E3 is automatic provided you do not screw up for some reason. If you come in as E1 you have to wait 9 months and then you automatically put on E2, then wait another 9 months and you put on E3 and then wait another 6 months and you can put on E4. Now the catch between E3 and E4 is that you take an advancement exam and the exam plus your evaluations, award points, PNA points, education points, time in rate, etc all get calculated into a Final Multiple. Say the final multiple is 120.3 points for E4 then you have to at least score 120.3 between all of the factors I stated. An 80 is the highest score you can get on the exam but is extremely hard. The other caveat is that you only have to wait 6 months to put on E4. So say you take the March exam, results will not come out until sometime in June roughly and you put the rank on shortly after that. If you put on E3 in December or January then you would be eligible to take the exam because you would not put the rank on until June or July anyways. Advancement as a corpsman is very tough though, I can attest to that. I am a 4 year E3 because advancement is so hard.

Where have you been stationed jabONE?

For OP-SEC purposes, I will not state specifically where I have been or where I am currently but I can tell you that I have been at a small clinic as well as worked at one of the big hospitals. Never been 8404 though. 0000 for me.

BTW Just wanted to drop my little bit of knowledge.

While all you guys are correct as far as the waiting time from E-1 to E-3 and that advancement is automatic, we have to make sure we specify that that is for ACTIVE DUTY only. Reserve personnel actually have to put in for their advancement with personnel and sign documents in order to advance to E-2 or E-3. It will be your responsibility that after the time required you bring it up to your chain of command.

Just throwing this in the mix. It really doesn't matter what NEC you have. One NEC won't give you points over another, what does matter though is the knowledge you'll get from the training. As an HM you'll be tested on everything in the rate so if you're a 0000 you still have to know radiology, surgery, anesthesia, emergency med, field med, etc... so it's better to straight pipeline into a "C" school coming straight out of A School.

I think they also meant different NEC's get different quotas which is also not true. I'm in a critical NEC and I have the same chance as every other HM out there to pick up.

Its all about you.. you can go into bootcamp as an E-1 and be an E-4 by about 1 year - 1.5, depending on your level of motivation and what time of the year you ship. Quotas are actually a lot better now.. Last quota was like 16%, which still sucks compared to other rates but is great for HM