The Deckplates

Well it is that time again; advancement results are out and would you know it, yours truly is one of those who have made it to the middleman position of E-5.

Once again, I had to relive the agony of awaiting the next set of results to know whether or not I was going to advance again. As far as E-5 goes, this was my second time to participate in the examination cycle for the paygrade. The first time around, I had hardly studied and took little to no time to prepare for the examination. I used up majority of the test taking period to complete the exam. I shouldn’t have been as surprised as I was when I found out that I wasn’t selected the first time. This time around was completely opposite. I found the bibliography and studied from the selected material as best as I could even to the day before the exam. When I was going through the questions, I couldn’t help but smirk at every question I knew the answer to and completed the exam just over the first hour.

When I checked out the forums where I knew people would post about advancing, I knew that it was the day to find out my fate. I even bothered one of the first classes by calling in early to see if they had come in, but he had told me they weren’t and check online. I obviously pulled out my laptop and when to the advancement page to see if I was listed, and sure enough my name was down for selectee, which in term means that I was to be advanced. One of my roommates had already been awake, so I let him know that I was to advance and told him to check if he made it. Of course his reaction was excitement because I was to be kicked out of the room since they are for E-4 and below with blue cards. I plan to request to stay and pay out of pocket for my time in there since I have no where else to go except back to the ship. Unfortunately I don’t qualify for housing allowance since I have less than a year left in Japan.

Congratulations to everyone who was able to advance this cycle. Those who weren’t so fortunate, I hate to say this, but it does pay to study. I’ve found this out first hand. Now I won’t have to participate in another exam for three years, two with a good eval(unlikely).