Signing in advice for ROTC graduates

One of the lieutenants I know just found out their sequence number for promotion; it's in the first hundred, so they're sure to get promoted in the first month. At first blush that sounds pretty cool, but after hearing the story -- not so much.

ROTC accessions start collecting a paycheck once they sign in to their first duty station, which in most cases is Basic Officer Leader's Course (BOLC).

As an ROTC graduate, my friend spent a few months after graduation waiting for the first school, which was in October 2008. However, by signing in to the school in October -- the start of the federal government's 2009 fiscal year -- they were assigned to Year Group 2009.

What they should have done is sign in during September and then wait for BOLC to start. By doing so, they would have been assigned to the 2008 cohort. The last officer in that group was promoted to captain in November 2011. The way it looks now, the first officer of the 2009 group won't be promoted to captain until -- and I'm just guessing on this -- the beginning of September.

If you consider the difference this year between a 1LT and a CPT in both base pay and housing allowance (with dependents), that's about a $10,000 mistake.

So here's my advice, ROTC people -- sign in by September and do whatever work you can find ("snowbird") until your class begins. It's better to be at the tail end of one fiscal year's group than at the beginning of the next.