Should the Army create two new pay grades for senior NCOs who take on more responsibility?

Just a couple of comments about what CSM Lonnie Bryson said. First, I totally agree with him that the best position I ever served in was as a 1SG. Working with Platoon Leaders and PSGs every day on real problems soldiers were having and being able to fix them with pay, barracks maintenance, DA records and assignments, and all sorts of things. Actions were a mile a minute and were significant. Going to the field was a real 1SG task, ensuring field sanitation, mess operations, and all sorts of things were being done properly. This was where the Subject Matter Expertise of a 1SG was critical.

Unlike the path CSM Bryson laid out, I went from SFC to 1SG to MSG, back to 1SG, back to MSG, then to SGM, to CSM(D). I actually was a Battalion Sergeant Major in one of the Army's few battalions at the time that didn't have a CSM slot, but had a SGM slot instead. So even though I was a CSM(D), I couldn't be frocked or anything until assigned to a battalion with a CSM slot. It was a time of downsizing and there were only six battalions that fit my MI background, so there was not much hope of one opening up soon. After nearly two years on the list, I was offered a GS-14 position at NSA and I decided to take it and retired. I also knew a number of CSMs who went from CSM to SGM to take jobs they wanted - two of them to be on staff at the Sergeants Major Academy. So it's not really "Once a CSM, always a CSM."

The status quo is the "once a CSM always a CSM" but I am not a fan of that. I am not sure that a lot of people are capable of doing both as they progress forward.

CSM Lonnie Bryson - That's certainly the norm, and what you see the most, but I've just happened to have known quite a few who have reverted back to SGM to take staff positions. There were apparently quite a few of them at the Academy, because they can't hold CSM positions there when they're teaching or on the staff. The school wants the CSM experience, but can't keep them in the CSM appointments, apparently.

They are getting paid by pay grade system not who they work for. If who one works for determines ones pay, would a Division driver make more than a regiment driver, or a regiment driver make more than a battalion driver, etc. Would all soldiers get paid more if they worked at the higher commands. A SGM is a SGM, just like a Private is a private. Maybe the best thing to do is take COMMAND off of SGM.

MCPO Roger Collins - but i think this is more like an assistant store manager getting reassigned to a role as an assistant regional manager..

SGT Kaelin Locker, absolutely incorrect analogy. More like a beauty contest, where the judges slept with the beauty queens.

SGT Kaelin Locker - perhaps that is the wrong term for use regarding Army positions. I certainly understand that SgtMajs may be selected to fill these higher level advisory positions to the different level commanders. We as CMSgts in the AF do the same thing. They are still all E-9s and should receive the same base pay as any other Sgt Maj or CMSgt. If the position requires them to spend more money to attend more and more expected events then provide them a stipend to help defray the cost do not try to create additional pay grades.

But on the officer side a LTC and a 4 star are quite different. A CSM could have responsibility of a unit covering that span...they should be rewarded for that.

Exactly how I understood it when I retired 18 years ago. I believe it was just starting up and the actual purpose was to help compensate the CSM for additional expenses that went with the position. Yes, things like the many social functions, not the costs that TDY took care of. In my small positions, I was able to get a taste of the "duties" that were implied for those above Battalion level. By the way, the best "job" I had as a CSM was at the BN level.