After you graduate Advanced Individual Training in the Army, you take some leave, report to your first permanent duty station on Permanent Change of Station orders, in-process the installation, and join the unit where you’ll actually work in your Military Occupational Specialty. That sequence is the same for everyone, but the timeline stretches or compresses depending on how long your AIT ran (anywhere from four to 52 weeks), whether you have follow-on schools, and where the Army sends you.1U.S. Army. Job Training
Graduation and Leave
AIT ends with a graduation ceremony that formally marks you as qualified in your MOS. Most soldiers take leave before reporting to their first assignment. Active duty soldiers accrue 2.5 days of leave per month, so by graduation you’ve usually banked somewhere between 10 and 15 days depending on how long training lasted.2MyArmyBenefits. Leave for Active Soldiers How much of it you actually use before reporting is between you and your chain of command. A week home is typical.
Hometown Recruiter Assistance Program
Some soldiers spend up to 14 days back at their hometown recruiting station through the Hometown Recruiter Assistance Program before reporting to their first unit. It’s voluntary and coded as permissive temporary duty, meaning you stay on active duty and keep drawing pay, but the Army doesn’t reimburse travel or lodging.3U.S. Army Recruiting Command. USAREC Regulation 601-2 You work no more than 24 hours a week at the station, talking to potential recruits about your experience.
To qualify you must have graduated AIT or One Station Unit Training, carry no disciplinary flags, and get approval from a battalion-level commander or higher. Anyone with follow-on training like Airborne School does that school first. If you want in, raise it with AIT leadership before graduation so the paperwork has time to move.
PCS Orders and Travel to Your First Station
Every soldier leaving AIT receives Permanent Change of Station orders. They list your gaining unit, whether the assignment is inside the continental United States (CONUS) or outside it (OCONUS), and the authorizations you need to arrange your move. A PCS assignment typically runs two to four years.4Military OneSource. PCS: The Basics About Permanent Change of Station
You travel to your new station either on a government-arranged flight or in your own vehicle, and if you drive, the Army pays mileage. The Army also ships your personal belongings through the household goods system. Junior enlisted weight allowances are:
- E-1 through E-3 without dependents: 5,000 pounds
- E-1 through E-3 with dependents: 8,000 pounds
- E-4 without dependents: 7,000 pounds
- E-4 with dependents: 8,000 pounds
The government won’t pay for weight above the limit. Most soldiers coming out of AIT don’t come close, but it matters if you’re married and combining households.5Defense Travel Management Office. Joint Travel Regulations
You also receive a Dislocation Allowance to help with miscellaneous moving costs. For 2026, DLA is $1,870.58 for a single E-1 and $2,389.42 for a single E-4. Soldiers with dependents receive $3,548.02 regardless of whether they’re E-1 or E-4.6Department of Defense. CY2026 Dislocation Allowance (DLA) Rates
Arriving and In-Processing
Under Army Regulation 600-8-8, every soldier moving to a new station is supposed to be assigned a sponsor before arrival. That sponsor is a soldier already at the gaining installation who fields your questions, walks you through the check-in process, and sometimes picks you up from the airport.7U.S. Army. Army Regulation 600-8-8: The Total Army Sponsorship Program Whether the sponsor actually contacts you ahead of time varies by unit. If you haven’t heard from anyone within two weeks of your report date, call the gaining unit’s personnel office.
When you arrive, you report to the installation’s Welcome Center or Staff Duty Officer to start in-processing. It’s a multi-day administrative run through finance to verify your pay accounts, the personnel (S-1) office to update records, medical for screenings, and the training section for readiness checks.8U.S. Army Recruiting Command. New Soldier In-Processing Checklist Bring multiple copies of your orders, your most recent leave and earnings statement, and any medical records not already in your file. Missing paperwork slows everything down and can delay your pay.
You’ll also stop at the Central Issue Facility for organizational clothing and individual equipment. What you draw depends on your MOS and the unit’s mission. You sign for every item on a clothing record and remain financially responsible for its condition. Lost or damaged gear requires a statement from your commander and can be deducted from your paycheck.
Where You’ll Live
Single junior enlisted soldiers are typically assigned to on-post barracks at no cost and don’t receive a separate housing allowance. Married soldiers and soldiers with dependents receive Basic Allowance for Housing, calculated from pay grade, dependency status, and the local rental market. BAH is designed with a five-percent cost-sharing element built in, meaning it covers most but not all of median rent in the area.9U.S. Department of Defense. Department of Defense Releases 2026 Basic Allowance for Housing Rates Families often stay in temporary lodging on post while they look for permanent housing, either in government family housing or in off-post rentals.
Meeting Your Unit
Once installation in-processing wraps up, you report to your assigned unit. The first people you meet are usually your Platoon Sergeant and Squad Leader, who run your day-to-day supervision. They’ll walk you through the training schedule, unit-specific procedures, and the local policies that don’t show up in any regulation.
You’ll be placed in a specific team or squad, and the unit will brief you on its mission and where you fit. This is also when you pick up the unwritten expectations: how early “on time” means arriving before physical training, what the preferred uniform standard actually looks like, how the unit handles vehicle dispatch or appointments. First impressions here stick.
What Daily Life Actually Looks Like
A typical duty day starts early with physical training, usually around 0630. The Army Combat Fitness Test is the standard, and your unit will run diagnostic tests between the record ones. After PT and hygiene time, the day shifts to MOS-specific work: a maintenance bay, a comms shop, a medical facility, an office. This is where AIT meets reality, and the learning curve is steep because real equipment and real timelines don’t behave like a classroom.
On top of daily work, units run collective training events ranging from squad exercises to battalion field problems that last several days. Intensity climbs during pre-deployment cycles and major readiness evaluations. Discipline standards don’t relax after duty hours, and the Uniform Code of Military Justice applies around the clock.
Your First Paycheck at the Unit
Basic pay is set by rank and years of service. For 2026, military pay rose 3.8 percent, and an E-1 with less than two years of service receives $2,407.20 per month. Every enlisted soldier also receives Basic Allowance for Subsistence, which covers food. The 2026 BAS rate is $476.95 per month. If you live in the barracks with access to a dining facility, meals may be deducted from that allowance, letting you eat at the DFAC at reduced personal cost. Soldiers assigned to quarters without adequate food storage or a nearby dining facility may qualify for a double rate of $953.90 per month with service secretary approval.10Defense Finance and Accounting Service. Basic Allowance for Subsistence (BAS)
Thrift Savings Plan
Anyone who entered service after January 1, 2018 falls under the Blended Retirement System, which includes automatic Thrift Savings Plan contributions. After 60 days of service, the Department of Defense contributes one percent of your basic pay to your TSP account whether you contribute anything or not. That automatic contribution vests after two years.11Office of Financial Readiness. Understanding the Two Parts of the Blended Retirement System
At two years of service, matching starts. The government matches your contributions dollar-for-dollar on the first three percent, then 50 cents on the dollar for the next two percent, up to a four percent match. Combined with the automatic one percent, that’s five percent of your basic pay from the government when you put in at least five percent yourself. Matched money vests immediately. The 2026 annual contribution limit is $24,500.12Thrift Savings Plan. 2026 TSP Contribution Limits
SGLI
You’re automatically enrolled in Servicemembers’ Group Life Insurance at the maximum $500,000 coverage. The premium is $31 a month, which also covers Traumatic SGLI, a separate benefit that pays out for qualifying injuries like the loss of a limb.13U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. SGLI Increase to $500,000 FAQs You can reduce or decline coverage. Very few soldiers should. Check your beneficiary designation now, and again any time your marital status changes.
Promotions and Schools
The first few promotions are largely automatic, based on time in service and time in grade. Most soldiers reach Private (E-2) at six months of service, Private First Class (E-3) at 12 months with four months in grade, and Specialist (E-4) at 24 months with six months in grade. Commanders can recommend waivers that speed those timelines for strong performers, and some soldiers arrive at their first unit already promoted to E-2 or E-3 out of training.
Beyond E-4 the system turns competitive. Promotion to Sergeant (E-5) requires points from weapons qualification, physical fitness scores, military education, civilian education, awards, and a board appearance. Soldiers who move up are the ones who actively chase points.
Depending on your MOS and unit needs, you may also have opportunities to attend Airborne School, Air Assault School, Ranger School, or advanced technical courses inside your specialty. These schools add skills, feed your promotion packet, and often open doors to assignments you couldn’t otherwise get.
If You Have a Spouse or Children
Married soldiers and soldiers with children have extra administrative steps to handle early. The most important is enrolling dependents in the Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System (DEERS), which is required for family members to use military health care, the commissary, and other benefits. You must initiate DEERS enrollment at a military ID card facility within 30 days of a qualifying event like a marriage or birth.14milConnect. Search Results: Add a Person to DEERS Bring a marriage certificate for a spouse or a birth certificate for a child, plus your own military ID.
If a family member has a physical, emotional, developmental, or intellectual condition requiring specialized services, you must enroll in the Exceptional Family Member Program. EFMP enrollment is mandatory, not optional, and it directly shapes future assignments: the Army screens proposed duty stations to confirm adequate medical or educational services are available before approving a PCS for an EFMP-enrolled family. Enrollment goes through the nearest Army medical facility on specific medical and educational summary forms, and documentation is updated at least every three years or whenever the family member’s condition changes.15MyArmyBenefits. Exceptional Family Member Program (EFMP)