Soldiers have publicly admitted on social media to hacking Army online training systems in order to fraudulently obtain promotion points required for advancement to noncommissioned officer ranks, raising serious concerns about the integrity of the Army’s enlisted promotion process.
In multiple TikTok videos reviewed by The Salty Soldier, Soldiers openly describe — and in some cases visually demonstrate — how they manipulated Army distance-learning platforms, including Joint Knowledge Online (JKO), to force courses to register as completed without actually completing the required instruction.
These admissions suggest that some Soldiers are advancing to leadership positions without receiving the training the Army deems necessary to become an NCO.
JKO hosts dozens of Army-approved courses that count toward promotion points. Many of these courses are substantial in length, often ranging from 20 to 40 hours of instruction, and are intended to reinforce core professional knowledge expected of junior noncommissioned officers.
These courses cover topics such as:
- Leadership fundamentals
- Ethics and professionalism
- Operational security
- Equal opportunity and harassment prevention
- Safety, risk management, and accountability
Under normal circumstances, Soldiers must progress through course material, meet time and interaction requirements, and successfully complete assessments before receiving credit. Completion data is then automatically transmitted to Army personnel systems, where it contributes directly to promotion point totals.
According to the videos reviewed, Soldiers instead used browser-based developer tools — a feature intended for software debugging — to manipulate course behavior and prematurely mark lessons as completed, effectively bypassing instructional requirements.
In plain terms: training designed to take weeks can be made to appear completed in minutes, and the system records it as legitimate.
In one TikTok Live broadcast, a recently promoted Soldier stated that she obtained the promotion points needed to advance to E-5 by using a shared “link” that allowed her to complete JKO courses rapidly. Her description indicated intentional circumvention of course safeguards rather than confusion about how the system works.
In another TikTok video, a Soldier explicitly promoted JKO as a shortcut to promotion, labeling the courses “easy promotion points.” The video goes further, visibly showing the use of browser developer tools while navigating a JKO course page — a technique widely recognized as a method for manipulating web applications, not completing training.
The tone of the videos is casual and instructional, suggesting the creators did not view the conduct as risky or unusual.
Promotion to sergeant is not merely a pay increase. E-5s are entrusted with supervising Soldiers, enforcing standards, mentoring subordinates, and executing orders. The Army’s promotion system assumes that Soldiers earning points through education have actually received that education.
By hacking course completion mechanisms, Soldiers can:
- Earn promotion points without learning the material
- Advance ahead of peers who completed the training legitimately
- Enter leadership roles lacking required professional instruction
If widespread, this practice undermines the credibility of the noncommissioned officer corps and raises questions about how many promotions may have been granted based on false training records.
The TikTok videos align with a broader online environment in which Soldiers openly discuss exploiting Army training systems. Public forums, comment sections, and code-sharing platforms reference methods for bypassing online course requirements, often framed as routine or harmless shortcuts.
While The Salty Soldier is not publishing technical instructions, the existence of this content — combined with Soldiers’ willingness to publicly admit using it — indicates the issue may be systemic rather than isolated.
The Salty Soldier has submitted a media query to the United States Army seeking comment on whether Army leadership is aware of Soldiers using technical methods to falsify JKO course completion; whether such activity has resulted in improperly awarded promotion points or promotions; and what safeguards exist to detect and address manipulated training records.
As of publication, the Army had not responded.
The Army relies on training records to ensure that Soldiers promoted into leadership positions are prepared for the responsibilities they assume. When those records are falsified, the consequences extend beyond individual misconduct — they affect unit readiness, leadership credibility, and trust within the ranks.
Public admissions that Soldiers are hacking Army training systems to obtain promotions raise difficult but necessary questions: how long this has been occurring, how many promotions may be affected, and whether the Army’s current safeguards are sufficient to protect the integrity of its promotion system.
This story will be updated as additional information becomes available.
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