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

SSG Bo Bergdahl is doing well w/o having being boarded. He has delayed his court martial for years and has the freedom to travel around CONUS. That is an example! SSG(P) Drew Hunnicutt

I believe the board is apart of a right of passage to becoming an NCO. It starts with your leaders believing that you have what it takes mentally and physically and then they send you in front of the members of the board to get evaluated. I know of some good leaders that missed out on the board but my thing is how are they going to prep a soldier for a board if they themselves never expierenced it?

There are no

Is it an incentive to move into the new MOS? Fact is, even folks getting promoted via normal routes don't always make spit hot Sgts. Sometimes you have to grow in your new rank, and if your peers and SNCOs don't pull you aside if your boning the cat then something else is wrong.

One of my neighbors is a 12P (Prime Power) and his position was one of those automatic E5 promotion deals.

Do not misunderstand, while he was promoted to E5 without going to a board prior, he is still held accountable by the STEP program. He is currently going through BLC. To my understanding, he was required to go to a board (and has already been).

Due to the requirements of some jobs, an SM must be slotted as a Non-commissioned Officer, and then get that training as soon as possible. Just a different path to the same goal, I suppose.

No more responsibility than most SGT's have and you want to demand a board, but a SFC, MSG, or CSM get by with just their records going before a board for a 3-10 second perusal. Sorry, but that record really doesn't show the toxic leadership traits, the backstabbing, or the utilizing subordinates as step ladders without giving credit when credit was due. Then of course, their is the board itself.. A MOI is put out to tell what the board is looking for, but when the board summary comes out it shows that they havent followed their own instructions.

Any promotion to a NCO rank or advancement in the NCO ranks should require a Board review.

Not in the USMC...if a Cpl is facing a board it should be a meritorious promotion board only.

While I think everyone for SGT and SSG should have to attend a board, I also believe the board process needs to be redone. Gone are the days when NCO'S needed to have memorized 99 percent of the AR's. I can look the information up faster in the digital age that we are in and no longer need a bookshelf filled with AR'S on a shelf behind me. All promotion boards should be nothing but situational questions that focus on things that NCO'S encounter on a day to day basis. That is how we should be testing their general knowledge not seeing if they can memorize a bunch of ar numbers and titles.

There is the difference between the Army, Air Force, & Marines compared to the Navy. We take rating exams and if you have enough points (EVALS, Previous Exams taken, Award points) you are advanced to E-4, E-5 and E-6. To make Chief (E-7) you take a test and if you passed you service record goes to a board and someone in your rate who does not know you presents your record to the Board if you are presented good enough your become part of the Goat Locker. But I have met some people who are book smart but not job smart and vice versa, but there are some who are both and usually they are ones who make Chief. Also, the guys and gals who go to NUKE school come out of school as E-5's and don't know JACK SHIT about being a supervisor to junior personnel that work them once they go the fleet. I wish the Navy would do boards for ranks and include everything evals, recommendations from supervisors, etc.... Needs to be big changes if you lead you should go to a board and go to leadership once you become a Petty Officer.