The MILES Program did not always lend money to all ranks of active duty military. If you are in the Army or Marines, MILES would would require a rank of E-2 before they would approve an auto loan for you.
About 2 years ago, MILES opened up lending to E-1 personnel through their bridge program. There were a couple of catches such as you could not be in any pending disciplinary action and you could not have been demoted to E-1, but other than that they would still help.
I got a fax today that says that MILES will discontinue lending to E-1 service members in the Army and Marines effective April 1, 2009. If you are in the Air Force and an E-1, they will still lend to you. Interestingly, their memo does not mention Navy. Perhaps they have not made a decision one way or the other for our sailors.
MILES is a great loan program for soldiers that either have little or no credit (first time buyers) or soldiers that have bad credit, but no unpaid repossessions. If you have good credit, MILES is not for you because the interest rates are not competative. However, if you do not qualify for prime financing, consider the MILES program for your military auto loans.