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Do you believe being assigned as a Rear Detachment 1SG (Diamond wearer) of a 200+ Soldier company is a positive assignment when being looked at for the SGM board? Receiving a stellar rating during the period of assignment.
Posted in these groups: 
1SG
1SG
Posted 11 y ago
Responses: 10
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I have been the Rear Detachment 1SG and I have to say it was one of the most difficult positions I've held even more than being a deployed Infantry 1SG as an Artilleryman. One of the challenges besides taken care of all the families and the issues they have and the Soldiers they leave behind (they are left back for a reason) is who's really your boss. The Command team down range are telling you to do one thing and the Command team left back are telling you to do another. It was truly a rewarding and learning experience and I think it made me a better leader
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SGM (Join to see)
Oh I know that feeling all too well. It is even worse when down range and back home collide. I agree though it definitely taught me a lot and how to better deal with problem Soldiers and how to effectively handle their issues.
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SFC (Join to see)
SFC (Join to see) Don't forget what kind of personnel being left at the rear d and their issues as well. On top of it, with limited personnel and their issues, you still have to maintain normal operation and tasking given from the higher echelon.
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A former BN CSM once told me that " if you regret leaving someone behind, you left the right person." While that is not always the situation I do understand his point.
However regardless of the position it is the rating that matters. I know of a 1SG that was selected for QSP rather than SGM and was all butt hurt because he felt he had " punched all the tickets".
That's the mentality of some leaders, punch tickets rather than lead soldiers. He had been a DS, Battle Staff instructor, Audie Murphy member, Operations SGT and 1SG. Unfortunately he was missing something crucial, deployment in a leadership position. The war had been going for 10 years and yet he had never deployed in a direct leadership position.
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MSG Curtis Lange
My Brigade CSM and I had a similar conversation. There were 5 MSG in the Brigade Headquarters, he asked me which one of the others was more qualified and better prepared to do the job than I was. Told him that was an unfair question since I knew I needed a deployment to stay competitive with my peers. Decision was made by the Brigade Commander and CSM, out of my hands, so selection boards need to consider that not all Soldiers take the job voluntarily to avoid deployments and leadership time.
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No single assignment, at the senior levels, will guarantee promotion to the next higher rank. If you have deployed in the past, held various senior NCO positions, sought the tough jobs and performed well in all, the promotion will take care of itself. If it is any consolation, one of the best Soldiers I have ever known was selected to attend USASMA class 65 after his Rear D CSM (as a 1SG) time. He fought harder to deploy, than the worst Soldier fought to stay back. He tried everyway to convince the BDE CO/CSM to take him down range. It was his belief that if he did not deploy he would be the seen as the "dead weight". In all these years of war, we finally figured out that a strong senior leader needs to take care of the home front and tend to the issues left behind. If not, when we return we realize those problems and issues do not get better with time and separation. Track the promotion trends yourself but I believe you will see that a successful Rear D tour is looked at favorable on the select, train, promote cycle of SGM/CSM, if the other gates to promotion were met.
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