Posted on May 15, 2017
How do you perceive serving in a NATO Headquarters in terms of your career, your job skills, and professional development?
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I served in a NATO HQs, and am now serving in the U.S. Army NATO Brigade, the unit providing Support to all US Army Soldiers serving in NATO HQs.
I saw some studs and duds. I ask myself, why are each in these jobs and how to get the best quality Soldiers into NATO billets. (I have also worked with other Services, so am also curious to their processes.)
I saw some studs and duds. I ask myself, why are each in these jobs and how to get the best quality Soldiers into NATO billets. (I have also worked with other Services, so am also curious to their processes.)
Professional Development
Military Career
Edited >1 y ago
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 3
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Back in my time, doing anything Purple was a kiss of death because the boards looked at a list of assignment types, purple wasn't on it, hence it was a downer. Then there was a period of time when the Service Secretaries woke up and the board precepts included purple "not be disadvantaged". Nowadays, Purple is a good bean. Times change. So in my later years being a senior officer, I made it a point to work with Skippers in other units to identify their good ones that were rolling out of their 2/3 year billet. Since Purple was now good, the people were much more interested in that since they continued to be hard chargers. Then, I'd make sure the billet boards had input from the right people.
The thing is, you can't affect the mix much on your own. However by working with the right mix of people, you can. This concept of scrubbing the system is a characteristic of any good Skipper/SEL team regardless of what type of command you have.
The thing is, you can't affect the mix much on your own. However by working with the right mix of people, you can. This concept of scrubbing the system is a characteristic of any good Skipper/SEL team regardless of what type of command you have.
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LTC (Join to see)
CAPT Kevin B. , you hit one of the issues square on!
We are always working to get our NATO Peacetime Establishment (PE) billets coded as Joint, which seems to be harder and harder. Sometimes, a billet that was classified as Joint is reviewed and removed, causing us to resubmit our packets.
And of course, we still have the other issue you mentioned, that of boards, etc. not understanding what someone did in the PE. The good news is that we can have our Record Briefs rewritten after leaving the job with real English job titiles, and our Evaluations always have at least one US Army Service member (usually an officer) in the chain to make sure the language used by our Sister Services and/or our Allied Nations makes sense too.
We are always working to get our NATO Peacetime Establishment (PE) billets coded as Joint, which seems to be harder and harder. Sometimes, a billet that was classified as Joint is reviewed and removed, causing us to resubmit our packets.
And of course, we still have the other issue you mentioned, that of boards, etc. not understanding what someone did in the PE. The good news is that we can have our Record Briefs rewritten after leaving the job with real English job titiles, and our Evaluations always have at least one US Army Service member (usually an officer) in the chain to make sure the language used by our Sister Services and/or our Allied Nations makes sense too.
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CAPT Kevin B.
Sounds like the PE billets are still in the Netherworld similar to joint billets in the past. Also sounds like a community management issue in which the system doesn't care about some of the niche stuff. That's a leadership bust up high as if the Service is willing to take on the mission, the bodies, the money, etc. for the PE stuff, then they should honor the billets/work like any other. If they don't, then they have no business doing the work. It's a cultural attitude thing in which if any billet is needed/owned, it's honored.
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LTC (Join to see) Sir, I am currently in the NATO brigade as well, located in RRC FR. The way my branch select personnel for this position, we have to go through a screening process. The packet is reviewed by the branch CSM, and only then the person gets nominated for the position. I know it can be difficult to find volunteers for these type of positions, but even the best qualified candidates can be unsuccessful. As you already know, being able to adapt to the NATO environment can be challenging. Specially for personnel who never been exposed to different cultures.
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LTC (Join to see)
Thanks MSG (Join to see) . I was with NATO LANDCOM in Izmir for one year and I was coming out of BN Command when Armor Branch offered me the job. The only screening process I know happened was that Armor Branch at HRC thought my skill set met the needs and then I think the Senior Army Officer (or similar) looked at my file and said, "Yes."
I am now at the BDE HQs as the DCO, so am looking across the formation and across the US Army to help us get good ones. I do think the NCO Corps does a better job of screening.
I am now at the BDE HQs as the DCO, so am looking across the formation and across the US Army to help us get good ones. I do think the NCO Corps does a better job of screening.
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It seems to me to be a great career enhancer working with multinational forces. How do you define duds?
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LTC (Join to see)
SGT (Join to see) , the duds I saw were those that either were ROAD (Retired on Active Duty) already and should have retired, or had a less than stellar work ethic, and used the multinational environment to slack off greatly.
I really agree it is a fantastic place to work with our NATO Allies, and we should have more US military members doing it.
I really agree it is a fantastic place to work with our NATO Allies, and we should have more US military members doing it.
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