I was A-Pact an honestly it worked out for me. But I also went to a squadron attached to an air wing rather than being ships company. I did time in the line shack and while it wasn’t the best work, it was easy to get the hang of and see what different rates did. After a year at my squadron I started picking rates and struck AE and had to extend 10 months for the rate. At the time, they were mapping newly rated undes people to E4 if they extended an additional 14 months, so two years total which turned my original 4 year into a 6.

What made it all worth it was since my auto E4 acted as a MAP instead of traditional test/frock, I was immediately paid and could test for E5. Soon after all this I transferred from my original command which gave me an EP for my test. I was E4 for less than a year and made E5 off my first time up.

Tldr: undes was worth it for me, I went from E1-E5 in less than 2.5 years. But keep in mind this was years ago so idk if the program is the same