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Some Soldiers come in the Army and make rank quicker than others. SGT's may have as little as 18 months time in service. Do you look at these fast risers as inexperienced or more talented than other soldiers?
Promotions
NCOs
Experience
Leadership
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 96
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It's quick promotions like that that are destroying the NCO Corps. I saw a lot of these promotions in the last 10 years, and they were soldiers who did not have the proper training or mentorship to know how to lead.
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SGT Edward Wilcox
PO1 (Join to see) - You are correct. But that becomes increasingly difficult when the leadership is being pressured by Big Army to promote as many as possible, or when standards for promotion are drastically reduced.
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SFC Edwin Watson
By the same token, I have seen many get promoted that didn't have a good balance between their soldiering skills and their MOS skills; that is they focused too much on one side to the detriment of the other in order to get promoted, and ultimately the troops under them paid a price. I believe our promotion boards are partly responsible, as many Soldiers will prepare as necessary to pass the boards. The only way to minimize the impact of the good old boy system is for 1. Have more of the evals based on quantitative data, and 2. Automatically populate that data so the rater can't fudge the numbers.
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SGT Randall Smith
I had a goal and that was to make Sgt as fast as I could. At 18 months and waivers I made Sgt E-5. I had been to 2 schools and the NCO academy in Bad Toltz. Most of those who got to the Bn. When I did were happy to be PFC’s or Spec.4’s. My next goal was to make SSG so I requested a transfer. A lot of things I got in Vietnam but E-6 wasn’t one of them.
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SGT Edward Wilcox
SGT Randall Smith Your seemingly meteoric rise through the ranks does not invalidate my statement. There are always exceptions. And, since I don't know you, I cannot say if you are one of those exceptions, or not. You, at least, went to an NCO school. When I made that statement, school was an afterthought. Advancing into the NCO ranks, without any mentoring or schooling has destroyed the NCO Corps. It is getting back to being the Backbone of the Army. Your down vote was unwarranted.
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Depends on the individual but talent, knowledge and demonstrated ability should be what dictates such promotions. Overall there's nothing wrong with fast tracking worthy people, it helps with force quality and retention of talent.
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SGT Joseph Dutton
Getting promoted to quickly can lead to a stalemate and Borden sets in because he/she can't move up higher in the rank structure. Which leads the soldier to seek another command or get out and to reenlist into another military branch. I have seen many soldiers do this when I was getting my children ready to enlist in the Navy at the Navy Recruiting Office and about 75% succeeded.
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1SG (Join to see)
SGT Joseph Dutton Or they were promoted quickly along with others and then fell to the back of the pack. That or MOS strength/promotion availability.
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I was on the automatic promotion list, and I swear to you I was under 18 months TIS/TIG. I wasn't comfortable with it, my team leader and squad leader were not comfortable with it. In my case, it couldn't' have had anything to do with talent as a soldier, it was just a SPC on a list.
I vaguely remember I submitted some paperwork with the intent of being taken off the list, which was the outcome. After this though, I did go to WLC and started taking classes for promotion points, with the goal of promotion in the near future, but not fast tracked as quickly as being on the promotion list would have promoted me.
Now if there is a Super-Hooah Army Beast, perhaps fast tracking them might not be a bad idea, but in most other cases--mine included--I don't like it.
I vaguely remember I submitted some paperwork with the intent of being taken off the list, which was the outcome. After this though, I did go to WLC and started taking classes for promotion points, with the goal of promotion in the near future, but not fast tracked as quickly as being on the promotion list would have promoted me.
Now if there is a Super-Hooah Army Beast, perhaps fast tracking them might not be a bad idea, but in most other cases--mine included--I don't like it.
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SGT Dave Tracy
LTC Ray B. (Ret) - Ah. Gottcha. I assumed that was who you meant, but it important to make sure and to not put words in other people's months, even if based on reasonable assumptions.
See, I kinda doubt that. For the longest time he simultaneously wore many hats at our (NCO deficient) unit: Truck Master, Acting 1SG, Training NCO, and was well respected by command. The guy wasn't Superman, but he was probably the most competent NCO or at least the most versatile, in the unit. The man had been in service (AD and AGR) for a long time, and he really didn't need to tell me any tales of woe; I'm wasn't important enough of a soldier to lie to me about it, LOL! In fact he wasn't bitter about it at all, he just took it in stride, grabbed his retirement and went home when all was said and done.
Either way, its his story, and if it was a stretch of the truth, I would not have had reason to doubt it.
See, I kinda doubt that. For the longest time he simultaneously wore many hats at our (NCO deficient) unit: Truck Master, Acting 1SG, Training NCO, and was well respected by command. The guy wasn't Superman, but he was probably the most competent NCO or at least the most versatile, in the unit. The man had been in service (AD and AGR) for a long time, and he really didn't need to tell me any tales of woe; I'm wasn't important enough of a soldier to lie to me about it, LOL! In fact he wasn't bitter about it at all, he just took it in stride, grabbed his retirement and went home when all was said and done.
Either way, its his story, and if it was a stretch of the truth, I would not have had reason to doubt it.
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