Posted on Oct 1, 2015
Should E6 and above be allowed to re-class to an MOS they have no military or civilian experience in, such as a mechanic?
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An MP E6 re-classes to a Bradley mechanic because the promotions as an MP are so bad he doesn't think he will make rank before he gets Q&P'd. I understand his predicament, but how is he suppose to mentor a private when he can barely change the oil in his own car? This is a situation I observed as a specialist. Our squad eventually got our NCO's to guide him to the office and take care of administrative issues. I'd like to know the thoughts of other Senior NCO's on their MOS's on the topic.
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Posted 9 y ago
Responses: 8
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If said NCO can and is willing to put in the work to know the MOS like the back of his hand in a very short time, then yes. I see no issue with it. If he's going to be lazy then no.
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SFC Edwin Watson
Agreed; there are situations where the NCO can dive in and get experience on the job. However, I have been at units where you are expected to perform at your pay grade in that MOS the second you touch ground, or the chain of command takes serious action. Motor Sergeants have been relieved of duty while I was a private at FT Knox simply for not being technically proficient upon arrival after reclassing to get the position. Wasn't fair to them, but I understand the rater's position of having to cover down while the motor sergeant had to be shown by his juniors things that he was expected to know due to his position.
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A good leader, regardless of MOS, can still lead, train and mentor Soldiers. That being said, he cannot talk about skill-sets learned from that MOS.
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SGT Carissa Lara, RCS
SSG Ryan R - I agree. I've run across NCOs that don't know their MOS and they lose the confidence of their soldiers when they can't do what we teach a private to do. We look to E-6 and E-7 to be the subject matter experts in our field. They are supposed to train and mentor us to be technically and tactically proficient (see what I did there). How can I guide my soldiers in their career field when I can't do what they do and don't know what they know?
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In my field, which statistically will always have more men than women, this is a fairly rare occurrence, as most of the guys (and some of the girls) I grew up around were tearing down and rebuilding car engines before they could legally drive. I just believe that by the time a Soldier reaches E6, they should stay close to their original MOS unless they have significant civilian skills to compensate for the lack of military experience. Example: I started out as a Bradley hull mechanic (63T). I reclassed to a M1 turret mechanic (45E), then a wheel mechanic (63B) a few years later. However, if I had reclassed to a 92A, I had sufficient clerical skills as a civilian so that I wouldn't have been a fish out of water when expected to do my job. I would have been completely irresponsible, however, to reclass in any medical field after making E5 as I had no prior experience to fall back on to give lower enlisted training as I would have been trying to learn myself.
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MSG (Join to see)
I am a 68W who reclassed from a combat arms MOS 19K as a SPC when I came off of active duty. In my class we had about 20 Soldiers reclassing from a combat arms MOS into the medical field and half of them were E-5 or above with two being E-6 and one an E-7. I feel like the more senior NCOs who did not have the experience of working in the MOS as a lower enlisted were going to be at a disadvantage when they completed their training and went to their next duty station as they would be trying to learn the basics along side the lower enlisted.
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