Should rank be automatic?

I had a Commander as an LT who required all junior enlisted Soldiers to be rated on a local-only 2166-8-1 (NCOER Support Form) even though they obviously weren't getting rated on an NCOER, and required E-2 to E-4 promotions to go through a CO-level board consisting of E-6 and up (but none from their own platoon) similar to the NCO Promotions Boards before he would sign them. Every promotion had to be earned, and people competed with each other and (more importantly) with themselves to improve. The Soldiers learned their stuff way better, and the practice at boarding helped them later on for the real thing.

The next Commander did away with the entire system, and signed any junior enlisted promotion for TIG unless there was disciplinary on them recently. All the competition stopped, and with it much the quality of the E-3/4 ranks within a year, even though most of them were among those who had competed to get their rank just prior.

I have no problem with the idea of a separate system for specialists (and even expanding it back to the WW2 multi-level tech track). I hate the idea that Specialists aren't rated formally the way Corporals are, and I have grown to appreciate the idea of developmental support forms for those who don't receive official ratings as a way of determining when advancement is appropriate.

I was meritoriously promoted to E-4 Corporal in the Corps nothing automatic about it. An E-4 is a NCO in the Marines. The Army should decide to have one or the other corporal or specialist.

Rank was only automatic from E-1 to E-2 and E-3 when I served as an enlisted man. I was in the Navy, and had to test for Petty Officer (E-4). If I didn't meet the passing requirements and complete various milestones for training I didn't get promoted. When I became an Officer, it seemed like promotions were automatic, but they were not. You still have to achieve certain milestones, like qualifications and have endorsements on your Fitness Reports (FITREPS). It becomes increasingly difficult when you are up for promotion to 0-5 (Commander in the Navy, Lieutenant Colonel in other services). I wish I could tell you that it's all fair at this point, but I have seen politics and political correctness hijack promotions and derail careers of some very good officers and promote people who lack basic leadership principles. It was really bad at the 0-6 (Captain or Colonel) level. In fact, in my own opinion, the services are all struggling with Commanding Officers up to flag officers being relieved for improper behavior or other issues that never used to plague the system as bad as it does in today's environment. I believe the military has done this to itself. In order to make higher rank, you have to know somebody. The old cliche, "It's not what you know, it's who you know" seems to play huge among the higher ranks. I offer this assessment up: a person who knows people up the chain will usually get promoted because of those relationships. This doesn't allow the system to properly work, where checks and balances ought to come into play, such as how stable is the individual. Does he or she have a drinking/gambling/infidelity/porn/etc, etc, problem? Or, some folks are just liked better because they went to the same school (i.e. the Academies). Those markers always go unchecked as leadership tends to look the other way, and we end up getting another fearless leader who cannot operate like a man or woman in social circles but ends up looking stellar on paper in FITREPS. I am glad rank is not automatic, but the system needs to be rebuilt. It is currently a self-licking ice cream cone.