Can a soldier be forced to attend an Audie Murphy board?

I belive hes being set up for failure his leadership has faild him by not informing him in the required time. He should be allowed to prepare before asked to a formal board such as this or any other type. But he should be confident in himself to do it when asked no matter what. Part of being a good soldier is knowing your stuff even when your leadership fails to teach you the nesesary things in being a good soldier. Unfortunately the system is rigged in certain chains of command. The buddy buddy system is well intwined in the military sad ti say. But not in all just a few.

I just retired last year after 35 years of Service to our Great Nation. If his 1SG thinks high enough of this Sergeant then the Sergeant should compete. Like the Marine NCO said, it's not going to hurt him, it will only show him what he needs to do to compete in the next board. All NCO's should be required to attend some of the other boards besides promotion boards. All that it does is forces you to study on things that you should already know. I understand that not all Soldiers are board material but as an NCO he should quit whining and set the example!

I can't believe what I am reading from supposed professional people. The Audie Murphy Club is a private organization, it has 3000 members nation wide. What the hell is any 1st Sgt or SgtMaj doing forcing someone to prepare for induction into a private club? Why is it important? Why are comments being made that imply promotion can be lost over this? This sounds similar to the time when being a mason was considered important in the military, that was a crock of crap just like this is. My question has nothing to do with this nonsense, is has to do with what the Army has become is this damned club is that important. If it were a governmental organization and membership equated to some kind of serious accomplishment that improved performance that would be one thing, this is A PRIVATE CLUB!!

I have never seen this during my Marine Corps carreer. Marine NCO's rise to the challenge. I personally was selected for three boards. Bombed the first, was selected as Marine NCO of the quarter the second, runner up for NCO of the year. Anyone in a leadership position not willing to rise to the challenge needs to rethink what he is doing and why he accepted promotion.

In my opinion there are 2 reasons why the Soldier was only given 8 days notice and both are a failure of his leadership.

1. The dates of the SAMC board dates weren't published in a timely manner allowing Soldiers to adequately prepare for success.

2. His BN or Company knew well ahead of time and didn't notify the Soldier far enough in advance.

Personally I would guess it's number 2. Boards of this magnitude are annual and should be published months in advance by the local SAMC board members. His leadership had to have known about this well in advance and either had someone picked that is now ineligible or they waited til the very last minute to select someone. Either way leaving the Soldier to pay the price.

As an Engineer we go through this every year with the Sturgis, Grizzly, McArthur, and Van Autreve awards. Every Company is FORCED to nominate names for every one of these knowing that the units may or any not have Soldiers that meet the minimum criteria to even be nominated. The leadership today is more concerned with checking a block and putting a name to a tasking than actually being honest and saying we don't have anyone to submit.

As a little old infantry guy .....shut up and do what yoir told ...if your leadership has that kind of confidence in you your already a cut above.....Battlehard

This may make earn me the nerd of the year award, but when I was a SSG something similar happened to me. I was in the motor pool working on some Air Traffic Control equipment and was pretty funky and dirty. Our 1SG walked into the MP and pulled the NCO's into a formation. He said, "look I screwed up and didn't submit any names for NCO of the month board and I need at least one to go. Who wants it?" I said I would do it. He then smiled and said, great go get your A's the board is at 1300...

Two things:

1. I always had my A's set up and ready so that wasn't an issue. Being prepared is something that I was taught by NCO's before me.

2. Going to a board is something that I prepared for. I was constantly studying with other NCO's and the Soldier's assigned to my squad. As a PLT, the PLT SGT started each morning with a stump the chump session.

I won that NCO of the month board, had time to study for the NCO of the quarter board and won, then competed for NCO of the year on Ft Bragg. The NCO's that I competed with were THE BEST NCO's in the Army. I didn't win, but did earn an honorable mention from the DIV CSM for the way I carried myself. I swear I think I only answered one question, EVERYTHING was, "CSM, I do not know the answer to that question..." I thought I did horrible, but so did everyone else.

So to my answer to this post, go for it! You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. If you aren't prepared and feel like you will fail, perhaps you should look at how you are attacking being an NCO. I'm not saying this to be negative, but, the best NCO's I knew were always prepared for anything.

Good luck!

I knew a lot of individuals who attend this board. They did well for themselves but left their soldiers issues to be addressed by others. I believe there is a place for these kind of boards, but believe they are more of a club of people who think they are smarter and better than anyone else rather than good NCO's. Ribbons on the chest don't make you a good leader and I follow nobody based on just a title.

On the same note I knew a lot of good NCO's who were also Audie Murphy members.

The reason these boards aren't as "prestigious" as they once were is that people are being forced to go. Leaders, get your guys to want it. Then, they will line up.

It's an honor to be selected...

I was given 3 days right out of the field to go and get ready for the sergeant of the year for Brigade... I didn't think I was going to make it but I did...

They wouldn't have sent you if they didn't believe in you...

"NO WHINING!"