Shouldn't Service Members be able to see open assignments for their MOS on AKO and self-request consideration?

2014-03-15T14:38:18-04:00

Doesn't seem very just to Service Members that junior Careerists have to "see where the chips fall" when it affects Family as well... just a thought.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Mar 15 at 2014 2:53 PM

2014-03-15T14:53:58-04:00

Soldiers don't often see the bigger picture involved around assignments. Allowing them to self nominate would now require someone to be hired to screen the nominations. To me it's like this. You joined the Army knowing you could be stationed anywhere they tell us. You knew this regardless of whether or not you were married when you joined. I'm all for stabilizing Soldiers at duty stations longer as a way of cost savings and boosting morale, but I don't think this is something that young Soldiers need to meddle with. After all the assignment satisfaction key is in place for a reason. If a slot comes open in a Soldiers rank, specialties, mos, etc., their career manager will do their best to accommodate them.

We have policies in place for Soldiers with extenuating circumstances who need more control in their choices such as EFMP.

Response by CSM Michael J. Uhlig made Mar 15 at 2014 3:05 PM

2014-03-15T15:05:45-04:00

I encourage my Soldiers to take an active role in their assignments, and I ask them why they want to go to that location as well (many times they are trying to get close to where their families are or closer to where they grew up) - I am fine with that as long as they know the unit they are going to and they are prepared for that mission.

There is a tool available that our Soldiers can use, it is called the ACT and is available from the AKO home page.

I encourage you to familiarize yourself with the tool before showing your Soldiers (believe me, I had to get a class on how to use this resource), you find it from the AKO homepage, go to the far right drop down (believe it is called self service) then go to my training, then go to Army Career Tracker. There is a resource there that shows positions by MOS and grade that are open. Once the Soldier identifies the positions he/she can pursue the assignment as long as it matches with the mission set. Great topic.

Response by 1SG Private RallyPoint Member made Mar 15 at 2014 4:55 PM

2014-03-15T16:55:42-04:00

I thought we can see them on the ACT?

Response by WO1 Private RallyPoint Member made Mar 16 at 2014 4:27 PM

2014-03-16T16:27:57-04:00

In addition to ACT, the ability to view and choose requisitions that are available on ASK is a tool that works within 6 months of your 3 year mark on station. I constantly encourage Soldiers that are letting me know that are ready for PCS to use this option. I also let Soldiers know that if they have overseas tours available they need to consider the fact that they might not be able to take their families. I think the only 2 OCONUS tours this applies to right now are Kuwait and Korea. Do I think this is "just"? Well, this goes back to NCOs paying attention to their Soldiers. If a good NCO is paying attention to their Soldiers, the Soldiers wouldn't get into the kind of trouble associated with just "pushing the button" because they would be informed. There are always those Soldiers that you can't get through to and just do whatever they want to do. For the most part an informed and detail oriented first line supervisor will make sure their Soldiers are informed and the Soldier will do the right thing for his/her and their family.

Response by SSG Christopher Freeman made Mar 16 at 2014 4:32 PM

2014-03-16T16:32:18-04:00

At least for my branch (PAO), our branch manager sends a message to field almost monthly with updates to our CMF and open assignments by MOS and rank. Granted, we have a very small amount of Soldiers, so it is easier, but it is nice to have.

Response by SSG Jason Deters made Mar 16 at 2014 4:43 PM

2014-03-16T16:43:59-04:00

There was discussion and rumors addressing this while I was still in service. I heard discussion of this sometime around 2004 when they began regularly publishing COTTAD assignments for deployment operations. There was to be a section in AKO to deal with assignment consideration originally intended to augment stabilization policies for soldiers returning from overseas assignments. The intent was to give as much consideration to station of choice for OCONUS soldiers who wanted to be in a specific geographic location. Of course this was also vacancy specific meaning a valid vacancy in the held MOS and grade had to be available for the soldier to fill.

Response by SFC Michael Hasbun made Mar 17 at 2014 6:40 AM

2014-03-17T06:40:02-04:00

If we did that, Hawaii would be at 800% strength, and Fort Polk, Fort Drum and Fort Riley would have to be shut down..

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Mar 17 at 2014 4:50 PM

2014-03-17T16:50:06-04:00

It is not a guarentee that this field is always open, but the requisitions tab within your ASK sometimes highlights available positions for soldiers. Also, if you approach it with the right attitude, BRANCH will oftentimes tell you what they have available, unless you call and specify a duty station. Flexibility is the key when looking at assignments. I have never received orders that I had not requested, I call my branch and ask whats available and choose one that he offers. They might not be my number one priority, but it is better than going somewhere I do not want to go. I think that having an open availability roster would be too overwhelming to branch managers and would encourage soldiers to continually call in an request transfers when they do not like their current chain of command.

Response by SSgt Gregory Guina made May 7 at 2014 4:35 PM

2014-05-07T16:35:56-04:00

I would love an option like this in the Marine Corps. However our choices are limited and while SNCOS can contact thier monitors and ask what is available invariably we often just get told you are going here because that is where I need you.