What do you say to SPC's, CPL's, and SGT's complaining about being able to make points?

SGT Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 23 Jun 2017 12:24:31 -0400

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 23 at 2017 12:28 PM

SFC Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 23 Jun 2017 12:28:11 -0400

Max APFT, shoot expert, correspondence courses, college credits, push harder to go to schools, volunteer and get the MOVSM, go to Soldier or NCO of the Quarter or Year boards and win. Your career is always in your own hands. Focus and self motivate. And I'd it's still not good enough, then all you can do is be patient and work to set yourself up for success further down the line.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 23 at 2017 12:32 PM

SFC Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 23 Jun 2017 12:32:32 -0400

Suck it up and either max out on everything or you just have to wait until your points drop. My MOS points were always low. Always the minimum because we were a low density MOS for awhile. Then a year before I did get pinned SSG points shot up to 798. I had civilian ed maxed out I have a Bachelor's. I did what I could with weapons and PT and correspondence and so on. I got promoted to SSG at like over 600 points. I don't remember exactly anymore. I know my end of tour award for the second deployment helped with points. Yeah it sucked but I did what I could and then I waited. Then I think points went back down a year later or so.

Response by SGT Joseph Gunderson made Jun 23 at 2017 12:37 PM

SGT Joseph Gunderson — Fri, 23 Jun 2017 12:37:12 -0400

I would tell them that they should work harder then. There are very few MOSs that stay at unreachable points consistently. If they are not able to make points it is probably because they haven't completed the appropriate hours of SSD, they haven't gotten the highest PT or Weapons Qual. scores that they should be achieving, or perhaps they still have yet to complete their level of NCOPD Schooling such as BLC or ALC. In addition, if these goals are being met and they still cannot seem to make points, why haven't they began using tuition assistance to take college courses. Complaining solves nothing. They must be willing to put in the requisite amount of hard work if they would like to tack on those extra chevrons or rockers.

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 23 at 2017 1:15 PM

SGT Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 23 Jun 2017 13:15:28 -0400

The promotion system is just like the APFT, it's up to you to put as much into it as you can. If these Soldiers sit on their butts and don't make points, then it's a lack of motivation and they shouldn't be promoted in the first place.

When it comes down to the SFC, MSG, SGM boards, what those Soldiers did to make points, such as classes, correspondence courses, college credits, APFT, Weapons; all of it will look better on those boards.

Response by SFC Andrew Miller made Jun 23 at 2017 1:54 PM

SFC Andrew Miller — Fri, 23 Jun 2017 13:54:11 -0400

I know I was one of those complaining for a few years. I made SSG with 776 points. It sat at 798 for a couple years straight and dropped to 782 two months before I made it and dropped to 740ish when I did. I was slowly picking away at the last of what I could. The frustrating part was watching others with a different MOS get picked up after 90 days with barely enough points to go to the board. I also had 10 points I couldn't get under my commander at the time, because he didn't max anyone on commander's points.

If they are sitting with 500 points and not doing anything to improve their standing, they have no room to complain, though.

Response by CPL Kevin Bright made Jun 23 at 2017 2:00 PM

CPL Kevin Bright — Fri, 23 Jun 2017 14:00:37 -0400

So being a corperal (p) with N C O P D school. Maxed out on P T maxed on educational pts. Maxed out on awards pts over 1 year of college credits. Having combat experience. Plus being put in charge of a Military Police fleet of vehicles. Is not doing all I could to grt S G T strips Then if anyone could please inform me of what else I could have done. Unfortunately for me I was caught in the drawdown in forces after desert storm. No E 5 by 8 years sorry your gone. Oh and last but not least did I mention I was recommended for E 5 five different times so my performance is not to be questioned.

Response by SPC Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 23 at 2017 3:40 PM

SPC Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 23 Jun 2017 15:40:18 -0400

Tell them to buckle down and max out everything they can, and start exploring all available avenues to make points. If they hit a roadblock, as an NCO, assist them by showing them, or providing them ways to explore different ways to make points so that they can get picked up.

Response by Cpl Justin Goolsby made Jun 23 at 2017 5:06 PM

Cpl Justin Goolsby — Fri, 23 Jun 2017 17:06:25 -0400

But on a serious note, we all know what we have to do to get promoted. Yeah there's math involved, but it's not brain surgery. We take a physical fitness test twice a year. We know when it's coming up, so we should be trying to max out our score every time. We know when the promotion score is calculated, so maybe we want to think about getting to the range and bringing up our score a couple points. You get points for taking off duty education courses... cool... sign me up.

The points are there. We all know where they are. You want them, go get them. I always tell my Marines, don't wait until the score comes out to be thinking about your score. You should be thinking about that before you even get a score.

Response by SSG(P) Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 23 at 2017 7:46 PM

SSG(P) Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 23 Jun 2017 19:46:04 -0400

It's hard being a 92F and I made it 651 which means so can you ! Keep grinding

Response by SPC Todd Hanson made Jun 23 at 2017 8:12 PM

SPC Todd Hanson — Fri, 23 Jun 2017 20:12:54 -0400

When the MOS is 798 all the time complaints are relviant. The points system needs to change.

Response by SPC Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 23 at 2017 8:34 PM

SPC Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 23 Jun 2017 20:34:29 -0400

My question... is there a difference between a NCO that made points 797 and a NCO that made points at 39?

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 23 at 2017 9:14 PM

SGT Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 23 Jun 2017 21:14:36 -0400

It's your career and the ball is in your court now. Want to achieve the title of SGT or SSG? Then do something about it. You can't wait for the army to drop points you exceed the standard and do everything within your power to make it

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 24 at 2017 12:06 PM

SFC Private RallyPoint Member — Sat, 24 Jun 2017 12:06:04 -0400

I tell them if they don't like it, then do something about it. If they don't want to do something about it, step to the side because someone else wants their job a lot more then they do and will work harder then them to keep it. The majority of these Soldiers don't know how easy they have it. They couldn't hang in a Service where rank isn't given and they actually have to test (with only one opportunity a year) for it.

Response by 1SG Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 26 at 2017 8:31 AM

1SG Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 26 Jun 2017 08:31:11 -0400

As a leader you provide guidance and mentorship by leveraging your knowledge and experience. At the same time, you provide motivation by being supportive and having empathy. Its really easy to say "just do better, work harder, do what I did", the challenge is to direct them towards success with genuine leadership.