Should junior officers compete for "Officer/WO of the Quarter/Year"? Why or why not?

2014-11-17T11:13:37-05:00

What are the advantages/disadvantages of having competitive local boards for Lieutenants? Company grade commanders?

Response by CW5 Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 17 at 2014 11:43 AM

2014-11-17T11:43:54-05:00

SGM Private RallyPoint Member, I'm torn, about 50-50, on this subject. On the one hand, junior officers can probably spend their time better than competing on boards. On the other hand, it is a nice way to recognize sharp officers.

But, at the end of my own internal debate, I would vote no ... Let the officers be about their business, not about preparing for and competing at junior officer of the quarter boards.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 17 at 2014 11:48 AM

2014-11-17T11:48:14-05:00

Absolutely they should be able to. If you have an Officer, hungry for knowledge, outstanding knowledgebase, so on and so forth, let them. That is like telling a PV2 "no, you cannot compete for Soldier of the Quarter/Year. You just don't have the experience that these other Soldiers do."

Let them compete. Show them you have faith in them. ... even if you don't. :D

Response by COL Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 18 at 2014 3:46 PM

2014-11-18T15:46:27-05:00

I held them in my BN. Each company and staff section had to nominate one officer. Nomination packet needed to include a professional writing sample from the officer. The day began with a PT test and then moved to the board. Board members included myself, the CSM or OPS SGM, one of the Field Grade officers, a company commander and a 1SG. I had the officers report in either dress blues or full Marne standard. Questions were more open ended, although some were very technical (we were a combined arms battalion). They ranged from leadership scenarios, tactical vignettes, ethical dilemmas, to various technical aspects of Bradley or Tank Gunnery. There were several outcomes to this: 1) raised the bar of professionalism for all officers, 2) allowed the young LTs to see and experience how their Soldiers prepared for boards (as an aside, I also directed that every officer was required to watch a promotion board or SOM board to understand), 3) showed other Soldiers and NCOs that officers were held to a very high standard, 4) allowed us to recognize great performers, which 5) helped me select the best officers for the most demanding positions (XOs, etc).