Posted on Nov 27, 2013
Enlisted Semi-Centralized Promotion Boards: Are they needed?
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Before this question is demonized as 'This is the way it's always been?', consider the significance of the actual promotion board...no more points and only a 'Go' or 'No Go' recommendation.
These Soldier's promotion statuses are being determined by (at least) three-unbiased voting members...senior NCOs that have no knowledge of the recommended Soldier's/NCO's daily performance or leadership potential.
Unit commanders (normally with the 1SG's recommendation) are charged with making retention assessments (based on the 'Whole Soldier Concept') and they make recommendations to the Command List Integration (automatically promotable based on time-in-grade/time-in-service requirements), so why is promotion board still needed?
What other services still use promotion boards to evaluate a junior NCO's leadership potential?
Looking forward to reading your comments.
These Soldier's promotion statuses are being determined by (at least) three-unbiased voting members...senior NCOs that have no knowledge of the recommended Soldier's/NCO's daily performance or leadership potential.
Unit commanders (normally with the 1SG's recommendation) are charged with making retention assessments (based on the 'Whole Soldier Concept') and they make recommendations to the Command List Integration (automatically promotable based on time-in-grade/time-in-service requirements), so why is promotion board still needed?
What other services still use promotion boards to evaluate a junior NCO's leadership potential?
Looking forward to reading your comments.
Posted in these groups: 
Promotion Board
SSG
Promotion Board SSG
Posted 11 y ago
Responses: 6
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Definitely some valid points with respect to why does there need to be another level above "company" that determines whether a person should be recommended for promotion.
I look at the battalion promotion board as training. If you want a "forcing function" to cause Soldiers and their Sponsors to study certain things, then a promotion board is a great vehicle for that.
I have carefully tailored the subjects of our promotion boards - SHARP, Training Guidance, Military History, Army Profession, etc. Notice the "usual suspects" missing - Map Reading, First Aid, NBC, etc.
I believe that the company can and does assess their candidates on the Army Warrior Tasks and Battle Drills and their required Individual Skill Level Tasks. If all the battalion was doing was assessing those kind of things, then YES, I would think the Battalion board would be redundant and unnecessary.
With that being said, we give our Privates and our new folks a copy of the Board LOI. It basically serves as the "Required Reading" and helps focus everyone's attention to the right areas. Units hold Mock Boards that focus on these same subjects that are covered at the battalion promotion board. So, not only are the candidates, but sponsors and first-line leaders are all focused on studying the same stuff.
I have found that my Soldiers are reading, studying and learning about the things me and my Commander want them to know - and it's all because we've created an environment (battalion promotion board) to accomplish this.
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MSG (Join to see)
CSM, I really like your thought process and system your Battalion has in regards to board requirements and intent. I agree 100% that your "required reading" helps better the entire organization and you have developed a way for everyone to be engaged in that! I have something similar in my platoon. I choose a specific doctrine and find important sections and develop situational based questions and we discuss together as a team at the end of the week. For example: I chose ADP 6-22, choose certain sections and as a team we would discuss the "components of leadership" or "Leadership Requirements Model" and break down the attributes and competencies.. At first Soldiers and some NCO's were complaining, but it kind of grew on them and we have created a fun, learning environment where everyone gets something out of it. And I found out that Soldiers started reading more than they were "supposed to" simply because they were intrigued and topics were making more sense in relation to why certain things were done!
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SGT (Join to see)
CSM Mike Maynard and Sgt Shawn Rafferty After reading what you posted I can't help but agree very strongly. The only thing I could add would be something at the Company level to assess soldier MOS competency. I have seen quite a few NCO's who had no idea how to do their job.
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MSG, the USCG uses a very different system. E1-E3 advancements are determined by completion of specific training benchmarks. E4 advancements usually occur once the member finishes A School (AIT) and meets time in grade requirements. From E5-E9, there is a centralized system that encompasses the entire service so that all members compete against all other members at their same pay grade and in their same rate (MOS) regardless of geographic location. Twice annually the USCG conducts the Service Wide Examination (SWE), an academic test which evaluates members' specialty and general military knowledge. The test score, members' time in service, time grade, medals/awards, performance evaluation and sea or surf time are combined to provide each member with their "final multiple". The SWE final multiples rank orders everybody at each pay grade and each specialty from top to bottom and then as openings become available, members are advanced in pay grade starting with the top member on the list and continuing until the list is exhausted or it expires (each list has an effective time limit). The advantage is that the SWE process compares all members who choose to participate in the test equally so there are not differences in application of the promotional process between units ensuring fairness. The downside is that members advanced are almost always short toured and required to PCS immediately to a unit where the empty higher pay grade billet is located. This drives accelerated personnel turn over in the unit, and frequently prevents the members from developing any geographic stability.
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I believe that a promotion board is pointless as a tool to determine if someone would be a good NCO or not just because u can remember things from a book doesn't make a good NCO. I have seen some of the worst NCO's that do really well at the board but are not good at the actual job of being a NCO
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CSM Mike Maynard
I would agree completely if the boards you have experienced are only considering the ability to conduct rote memorization.
In our promotion boards we do not have a study guide and we don't ask questions that only require rote memorization. You are correct - that type of analysis is useless and is not a good indicator.
We focus on situation based questions that focus on determining whether you are ready to train and take care of Soldiers. That is the only thing that matters to us - assessing your ability to be an NCO.
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SSG David Eure
CSM Maynard, I fully endorse this point of view. At my promotion board to become promotable to E-6, each of the board members asked me 2-3 situational questions. The context of the questions dealt with how I would react to different situations involving any and all Soldiers that were assigned to my Platoon.
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