It's also an automatic promotion for the Army. From what I understand you Marines really have to earn your E-4 as the Cpl is typically a team leader with the E-5 Sgt being a squad leader.
In the Army it's typical for E-5's to be team leaders. One of the reasons why we can promote so quickly to E-7 in the Army is that there are way more E-6 and E-7 slots. I know people in the Army who have made E-7 in 7 years.
Congratulations on your promotion and welcome to the NCO corp! :beer:
I think for the Marines it really depends on where you're at. In the infantry fleet a Lance could be a team leader and as a Cpl you should expect and be ready to be at least a team leader. Where I'm at now, this place is run mostly by Lcpls and Cpls and two or so Sgts for each platoon. In my platoon alone both our squad leaders were Lcpls that recently picked up Cpl, and the other is still a Lance. There were/are Cpls in the platoon serving under them, but because we are so small it comes down to seniority and we'll often have guys who have been stationed here longer but only recently passed our selections. So they'll have the higher rank, but still have limited knowledge of how we operate. It surprises some to see that that's how we do things especially for the importance of the mission, but the Marines and sailors that come here have to meet a higher standard in order for the clearance.
From what I understand 0311 Sgt is closed out. With the downsizing the Marines are opening very few seats to pick up Sgt.
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