Civilians to NCO's...thoughts?

TSgt Kristin Parsons — Mon, 30 Mar 2015 16:20:57 -0400

This is a little tidbit from the new Defense Secretary Carter (from MilitaryTimes):

"Carter also questioned the custom of making all service members start at the bottom ranks. Instead, he said the military should allow well-trained people to begin military service in the middle of their career and grant them an automatic midcareer rank to reflect their civilian experience and skills."

What do you all think of civilians becoming NCOs straight out of basic?

Response by CSM Michael J. Uhlig made Mar 30 at 2015 4:26 PM

CSM Michael J. Uhlig — Mon, 30 Mar 2015 16:26:33 -0400

Recently a similar topic here on RP. My reply to the discussion was:

We have most of these things in place already....you join as an Enlisted person with a degree, or finish your degree (and are an upstanding person), there are opportunities to become a Warrant or Commissioned Officer....You bring prior civilian skills/specialties with you, you have an opportunity to enter the service as a PV2/PFC/SPC. There are other ways our Soldiers can separate themselves from their peers for accelerated promotions - competing in Soldier/NCO or the month/quarter/year competitions; volunteer for duty as an Airborne Assignment/Drill Sergeant/Instructor/Recruiter or volunteer (or reenlist for) specialty schools like Ranger School/SFAS/CA Assessment/Observer Controller and etc.

Those of us in the service have a responsibility to find these individuals in our units and single them out, and to challenge them to achieve these things....these advanced promotions are available.

http://www.militarytimes.com/story/military/pentagon/2015/03/30/secdef-promotion/70667178/

Carter: Change promotion and retention rules

The demands of the 21st century may require the military to fundamentally change the way it evaluates, promotes and retains service members, Defense

Response by LTC Private RallyPoint Member made Mar 30 at 2015 6:06 PM

LTC Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 30 Mar 2015 18:06:54 -0400

Secretary Carter was much clearer than the snippet suggests. He said that this would only be "for certain specialty jobs, like cybersecurity, [because] we need to be looking at ways to bring in more qualified people, even if they're already in the middle of their career, rather than just starting out."

That does not mean bringing in a mid-career financial consultant as an infantry squad leader, or a successful entrepreneur as a company commander.

I agree with him for cybersecurity, and this has long been the case with special branch officers such as JAGs, MDs, dentists, vets.

I also agree with him that promotion should be more merit based, but I think the BZ promotion system we have now works pretty well.

Response by SSG(P) Private RallyPoint Member made Feb 18 at 2016 12:24 AM

SSG(P) Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 18 Feb 2016 00:24:34 -0500

Just as the others have said with the specific job titles yes. I may look at it with a different view though. The military needs a way to draw personnel in. Why would the average who is skilled in a job and getting paid well want to switch to the military other than to serve the country. However I think it should more like bringing the SPC4 and above back. This way they can still receive a grade that the military determined fit for the service member and they still have to earn the rank of an NCO.