What do you think about promotions to Sergeant (E-5) without going to a board?

I'm going to have to go against the grain here and it might even ruffle a few feathers so here goes. I served from May 98 to Nov 2011 as an Infanteer in the 1st Battalion The Prince of Wales's Own Regiment of Yorkshire, now known as 2nd Batalion the Yorkshire Regiment which is part of Kings Division in the British Army. I left as a full Cpl equiv to that of a SSGT here which by the way I'm Infantry again in tundrum! I came in as an E1 now an E4 I have been to the board already and out of 5 who were supposed to go I was the only one who made it however politics took place, and if the the chain of cmd can figure out what is going on I'll be going on it again real soon.

Anyways I have seen since been here young pups with E5 rank little experience in a leadership area and when they get to the rank of Sgt I have noticed alot of them power trip. But this is about if the board is a good way to get promoted, I say NO it is a far cry from a worthy way of promoting senior privates who have little experience to Sgt rank. End of the day when it comes to looking up on how to do things paperwork wise you look up the ADP which I'm sure by now they are all over the net. If they still can't find what they are looking for then hell they can ask a peer or a senior at the end of the day we are meant to be a team and more so a brotherhood especially within the realm of the Infanteers. You can learn some of this stuff when you go to WLC I'm sure. So why not have a trade specific promotion course!!! Example and god help me for giving this away, an Infantry battalion should pick out say 8 E4s (or however many they deem necessary) from each company and put them on an in house leadership and tactics cadre. This can last as long as the unit deems necessary but generally 3-6 weeks. Here's a rough idea on how it would run. 1st week you would do a series of written tests on the basic soldiering i.e weapons, orders, and tactics etc, also include a series of PT Tests APFT, an individual 12mile ruck. In this week, in between doing all this fun stuff you would go through Army and Battalion policy's, including things like Sharp and Equal ops.
2nd week would involve teaching and then having the potentials give a lesson on rifle or foot drill and have them march a squad or platoon round for a series of given movements. Also in this week would be revision lessons on how to present orders in the field be it the full shabang or fragos, and also have them give a lesson on two different weapon systems to their squad.
Final week or weeks, into the field with given scenarios example recce's, Ambushes, Fighting Patrols, Squad and Platoon attacks, taking out the enemy in different terrains such as open field areas, forestry blocks and building and room clearing. However they are not been tested as a E5 they are been tested as Squad Leader, They must complete patrol reports, traces of maps of routes and relevent info found after recce patrols once they have been out so their platoon cmdr sorry PL knows whats what however everything is scored.

The top student is promoted there and then at the end of the course and then over the following 3 months the following 10 are promoted everyone else as to re-show.

You would have 1 PL and an actual SSGT for for each of the squads on the promotion course. You would obviously also need the relevant rank for administration purposes i.e organizing transport, food, ammo etc.

I believe in order to get promoted to Sgt they should have to go to a promotion board and complete WLC. This way they at least have an idea as to what an NCO should be and do. I have seen to many automatic promotions to personnel that have no idea what an NCO should do.

I feel the board to e-5 is wrong. Your direct line should recommend you and have it signed by battalion. The two boards i failed to be promoted at. They are more like hazing and unprofessional to say the leaste. My peers and seniors can depend on me and want me promoted but a panel of judges who are not with me day to day ruined my career in conjunction with nco crew that probably should have there rank questioned. In all i feel no board for promotion to E-5

I think the board is a ridiclous way to test a future NCO's potential. Getting away from the promotion because of numbers problems we have, there are far more practical ways to test a future NCO's potential to be a leader than a board of questions. Let's make individual STX lanes for soldiers to test skill level 1, 2, and 3 tasks. Let's test their will power and drive by making this a 24 hour or 12 hour event. But a series of questions?

Bottom line: Instead of answering the knowledge how I would act to contact, let's make our future leaders demonstate how they wuld actually react to contact.

This must be active duty because in my four years I haven't seen anyone in my unit go to a board and we have had at least 8 people gain a new NCO rank without going to a board and that includes me myself just being promoted as a SGT a month ago just because a slot was open across the state. However in my duty MOS 91D I have learned on the drill side as well as being a full time technician in the MA ARNG, a lot and am very confident I can lead the soldiers in the new unit I am going to start drilling at in September.

That's a great question! I have just existed out of the Army, so happy but so sad. I truly love the military and wish I had never PCS or wish that branch would have moved me as requested or career counselor would have put in my request to change MOS to move on but no the change for 12 years to 8 years happened later and Army needing sergeants was automatically promoting but are first sergeant didn't see it that was so he did what you call a blanket counseling for everybody who could of gotten promoted so that ended all hope. After being in for 7 years I was tired of being lied to about going to the board or being pushed or something like new platoon sergeant and having a shitty staff sergeant! Seen many! My first duty station I worked very hard and earned my waivers and after deployment since my E6 didn't want to back me but my platoon daddy did asked if I wanted to go to the board before PCSing, I should have said yes! But I really did have my hands full and wanted to move on for better leadership and wanted WLC first. I came into the Army at 28, I was a manager before with lots of experience as a leader but as an 11B I wanted to know it all before being a Sergeant, I did all I could from online classes to asking for all the classes I could but once getting to my new post I learned that I wasn't liked right from the start and it carried over to new leadership so once I showed them so they were gone and I had no support for going to the board, I know I'm not the only case. After 7 years, 2 deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq plus getting to go to Japan and Indonesia, with all the skills the Army has giving me you would think that they would try to keep me. I have never received a negative counseling even though I had leaders that wanted to break me (in their words). So something needs fix so I don't ever have to see someone get ripped up like me!

I am going to assume that this is AD, because in the reserves you don't face a board but your packet is still reviewed by a board of 1SG's

absolutely not -not at this day and age so many are passing by because of lack of counseling and leadership trying to be ((nice)) instead of holding soldiers accountable for what they do ...

For those wearing corporal rank and are just waiting on a board this is a great program and benefits the unit greatly. For those 10 year e4's that don't even want to be promoted, it is poision to the NCO corps. I wish there was a way to vet those who qualify.

If a person can prove that they are a leader in any given field then let them have their shot, but they must also be proficient in their skill set. To me, this is a reenlistment incentive to draw people towards some needed or unpopular MOS. This could bring in potential, but can also bring in some garbage. I think NCO's should be experts in their fields, as they are the leaders and motivators for future soldiers. If they are not, then they need to learn their job to the point of expertise or not lead at all. Leadership is a be, know, do attitude. You can be in a leadership position and not know your job, thus you can't do the job as a leader. Long story short, I wouldn't automatically promote. They need to learn their profession.