The Training and Experience Date (TED or T & E date) is one of the most important dates on a new officer's call to active-duty orders. This date is the basis for your starting pay grade as well as most promotion eligibility and effective dates. Both your education and your work experience, including service in any other uniformed service, count toward your T & E date. It takes a certain number of years of education and experience to earn or to be eligible for promotion to each rank. The Commissioned Corps uses a dual rank system, which means that you will be assigned a permanent rank, and you also may be assigned a temporary or pay rank. You wear the uniform of your temporary rank and are paid at that rank for the duration of your active-duty time or until you are promoted to a higher rank. It takes fewer years of training and experience credit to obtain a temporary rank, so promotions through the pay ranks are faster than through the permanent ranks.
The number of years of T & E credit required for each rank is as follows:
| Rank |
Temporary |
Permanent |
| O-2 |
4 years |
7 years |
| O-3 |
8 years |
10 years |
| O-4* |
12 years |
17 years |
| O-5* |
17 years |
24 years |
| O-6* |
24 years |
25 years |
* Promotions to O-4 and higher are competitive promotions, with a ceiling on how many officers may be promoted to each of these ranks. To receive an O-4 rank, a new officer must have enough credit to earn a permanent O-4 (i.e., the full 17 years are required).