 LeMay experienced slow advancement throughout the 1930s, as did most officers of the seniority-driven Regular Army.At the start of 1940 he was promoted to captain after serving nearly eleven years in the lieutenant grades.Beginning in 1941, LeMay began to receive temporary advancements in grade in the expanding Army Air Forces and advanced from first lieutenant to brigadier general in less than four years; by 1944, he was a major general in the Army Air Forces.