How would I go about asking units about empty E 5 slots that my friendI could transfer into ? Identify units that may have those slots . Call them up and ask about those positions . Don ' t necessarily trust HRCapps . Many Reserve units will go out of their way to keep certain slots filled on paper , in order to vet the people that get put in those slots . An empty slot can be filled by anyone who meets the requirements or by someone the command has selected to put in that slot . The first option might give you an awesome NCO , or some dirtbag who is unithopping to avoid APFT and NCOES . The second option is generally preferred . Talk to the units that do the things you want to do , whether their slots are officially empty or not . I ' d advise calling during the week to talk to the fulltimers , not on drill weekends . They ' ll put you in touch with the 1 SG andor CO . My experience has been they will have you RST a few times to check you out a bit , especially if they are going to spend money to train you up . Senior NCO ' s E 6 might have to talk to the CSM , and any NCO will probably have to provide his NCOERs for the past X years .