Barb,
Sounds like he's off to a great start, and yes, knowing which end of a wrench is which is a plus! I finagled E3 out of boot when I enlisted, then out of A School requested a waiver on time in grade to take the E4 test and got the first group! Got me E4 under 1, which was pretty unusual at the time. Charlie may well get E4 out of school, but if not he'll be positioned well to blow the top out of that test! Congrats to Charlie, and to Mom & Dad, too.