I was promoted from E-1 to E-3, never wore the pv2 insignia and never recieved E-2 pay. Is this a common occurrence?

2016-02-11T14:17:45-05:00

I was away at basic and earned E-1 pay, when I returned home to my unit, I was told I was set to be promoted to E-3 on 31AUG2015. After I did some talking with the HR specialist, he said I should've received E-2 while I was at basic, but never received that pay grade, is there anyway to get back pay from that?

Response by MAJ Private RallyPoint Member made Feb 11 at 2016 4:27 PM

2016-02-11T16:27:13-05:00

Don't look a gift horse in the mouth. I'd say thanks, and yes it's a rare occurrence.

Response by MAJ Ken Landgren made Feb 11 at 2016 4:54 PM

2016-02-11T16:54:30-05:00

Were u ever an E-2?

Response by CMSgt Private RallyPoint Member made Feb 11 at 2016 5:18 PM

2016-02-11T17:18:53-05:00

Keep the attention of that HR Specialist, and ask him what paperwork is required to validate this. Then take that paperwork to the Pay office.

Cardinal rules:
--Take down names of everyone that told you everything about every issue. Leading with, "Some guy told me that..." will not get you far.
--Keep copies of EVERYTHING in your whole career

Response by CSM Felipe Mendez made Feb 11 at 2016 5:46 PM

2016-02-11T17:46:59-05:00

There are times in which Personnel Action/Promotion section are disconnected. You should check in with the promotion section first to see if you were ever paid as E-2. Check your promotion/award form located in the promotion section. If you have not being paid, have them contact Personnel action/finance to correct this error. In addition, check with finance, promotion section and personnel to see if you are going to receive the E-2 back pay once you get promoted to PFC/E-3, submit a DA Form 4187 request for back pay. There is a document that is send to your Battalion monthly (forgot the file form number) to be screen by every Battalion personnel action section, first Sergeant and Battalion CSM. They should have been able to correct this error a while back. Since promotion to E-2, E-3 and SPC/E-4 are automatically as long are approved by chain of command. When screening such document, they should have check your time in grade as E-1 and see why you have not been promoted to the next rank (in this case, E-2) and so on. There are times that individual are been paid for one rank and shows different rank on the personnel action tracking sheet. This mistakes are and should be easy to fix. Use the proper channels to get this done, if everything fails, use the open door and see your senior enlisted either, 1SG and BN CSM. Good luck.

Response by 1SG Private RallyPoint Member made Feb 11 at 2016 5:52 PM

2016-02-11T17:52:08-05:00

I would complain that I never had the opportunity to do my time as an E2 and demand that I be given the opportunity to experience that rank!

All kidding aside, I would follow the steps outlined by CSM Felipe Mendez. As expected, he nailed it right on the head

Response by MSgt James Mullis made Feb 11 at 2016 6:15 PM

2016-02-11T18:15:30-05:00

Back in 1982 the way it worked is you were an E-1 until the day after you completed Basic Training. Then you were promoted to whatever grade was promised on your enlistment document. I was given E-3 for enlisting for six years instead of four.