In 1900, Pfingsten successfully passed the entrance exams to the Nikolaev Academy of the General Staff, which he graduated in 1902 in the 1st category.

After graduating from the academy, he was at a camp in the Vilna Military District (Russian Empire), and from 27 October 1902 to 16 February 1904, he commanded a company in the 8th Grenadier Moscow Regiment to undergo qualification.

At the end of the Russo-Japanese War, Pfingsten was appointed headquarters officer for special assignments at the headquarters of the 8th Army Corps on 11 April 1906, and the battalion qualified command left from 20 May to 17 September 1908 in the 60th Zamotsky Infantry Regiment, and 20 June formally was appointed chief of staff of the Kuban Plastun Brigade.

In autumn, he was appointed commander of the 96th Omsk Infantry Regiment, but did not manage to take office, since on 9 November he was killed in battle near the village of Feliksen near Lodz.

By the highest order of 11 March 1915, Colonel Pfingsten was posthumously awarded the George Weapons “For the fact that in the battles from September 30.