Is this a fair change to Centralized Promotions?

Agreed, promotion is supposed to be based on performance, potential and nothing else. Your gender, race or anything else not related to what you are asked to do for the Army should have no bearing.

I'd go with the one with the most volunteer hours or highest GPA in college.

Ok SGM I will step down off the box. However as stated above you do not have access to anything other than ERB and evaluations.

Volunteer hours and GPAs should be on evaluations.

I ask that when you get the chance to review Christian vs US. This was a landmark case many years ago but points to the basis of this scenario. While this case was more about forced retirement it still points toward the "goal"
http://www.adversity.net/military_court_97-165C.htm

As an instructor in this new electronic Army I cannot support all 1059's since students can CTRL+F all of the manuals and find the answers without taking one class. This has been proven.

In my ALC we were not authorized to use any resources during our test. It was all from memory... Your branch must have different standards for their NCOES. As far as using 1059s for evaluating NCOs for centralized promotion, they are already considered a factor. However, the weight that the 1059 holds at the centralized board is shallow in comparison to the weight of the NCOERs.

NCOES courses are slowly changing back to the way it used to be. A recent test of a newly enlisted soldier just out of AIT showed the result of allowing open book testing in a computerized world. He passed every WLC exam without ever taking a class.
You right on the amount of weight given to 1059's.

Your absolutely right there are many inflated evaluations which speaks to the integrity issues we have in our ranks.

I think that you can beat the inflation by developing a written test that covers the MOS and Skill level that you are trying to get promoted to. That combined with your evaluations should give an accurate picture of what kind of Leader you are and will be at the next level. In the cases of the inflated reports the test will not match what is being said in them. To the argument that some people do not test well I say you are in the wrong career if a written test scares you that much.

SFC King, I think such tests play a big role in Air Force (enlisted) promotions. I like the idea. In fact, years ago we had something similar in the Army - MOS tests - but they didn't stick.

That is to bad I for one would be happy to see them come back. I have dealt with to many people that outranked me in my career that new nothing about what they were doing when it came to the job so they could not mentor me in my MOS. It has made it a struggle for me in several areas since I had to learn through trial and error rather than someone showing me what right looked like from the start.

Trust but verify. It should not be that the powers that be do not trust what is being put infront of them but to keep things impartail you veryify everything. You show trust in them by taking the time to allow their Soldier to take the test and once that is passed then you trust that the Soldier taking the test will represent your recomendation by looking good in their uniform and in their records with as few unexplained discrepancies as possible. The trust is still given but it is on the leader that is recomending to prove that it was well placed by putting only his best before the board.
It is my hope that at least in the Army the promotion process becomes more about how well you do your job and less about how well you look on paper and I feel that they only way to put that in a way that will make it quantifiable for a board is a skill test. By putting a percentage on the knowledge that the leader has about the job that he is competing for would eliminate MOS hopping where guys jump from an MOS that has high points to an MOS with low points. Then you have a leader that knows nothing of the MOS because he skipped up the ranks just because he worked the system so then you have weak leadership in that job. The skill test would require that if you are going to switch MOS's you would have to take the skill tests for the rank that you hold if you can't pass it then you can't switch. Like wise if you can't pass the test for the MOS that you hold then you are not permitted to reenlist this way the Army retains only the Soldiers that want to be here and know what they are doing.

Not to mention, who is in the right uniform. NCOs wearing the old blue uniform versus the ASU. Also who picked up the current dress uniform versus the greens. How can you express to Soldiers to purchase the new if you aren't leading the way.

I think the photo plays a key part in the selection process. Especially when the photo shows an obviously overweight individual yet the DA 705 tells a different story. Not to mention you can see who took time to set up their uniform properly and have it accurately reflect the ERB. Better yet, who took the time to even update their photo rather than use an outdated one.

For the AF all promotion outside of E4 below the zone are centralized.

Absolutely the photo plays a big part which is why you should only be allowed to see it after you have decided yes or no based on the aforementioned criteria.
After that when you see the photo you can determine if the image you have developed based on what you read agrees with the photo.

But if you have already decided and then the photo becomes a mute point so there is no incentive to make sure that it is correct. The Soldier could sound like Rambo and look like a hobo. I think that the photo should be the first thing that they see and if they look at that and see that you do not look like a Soldier then your packet should not go forward. Apearence is a big part of what we are. We are Soldiers 24/7 and should look the part first and formost and then we will list your qualifications. Am I saying that everyone needs to look like Rambo...no I am saying that regardless of gender or race you should look like you not only want to be here but that you are proud to be here, and a photo can display that if you take the time to make sure that it is correct and done right and not just go through the motions.