What does an orderly room NCO do?

2019-11-04T19:26:08-05:00

I am an E5 who's being transferred from a line company to our HHC to be an "Orderly room NCO" and have no idea what that entails or what I must do to prepare. Does anyone have information of how to prepare, and what I will be doing? (Already asked my COC and NCO support channel and was told to "Figure it out").

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 4 at 2019 7:28 PM

2019-11-04T19:28:51-05:00

Can you make contact with the previous one to find out? Was it the NCOIC of the orderly room who told you to figure it out? I’m sorry I would need more information.

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 4 at 2019 7:36 PM

2019-11-04T19:36:55-05:00

Training NCO, pretty much.
Anything that has to do with Training, you make spreadsheets. For the CMD Team.
Its alot of OJT. Whatever the CMD Team tells you to do.

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 4 at 2019 7:37 PM

2019-11-04T19:37:29-05:00

Ask one of the other Company orderly NCO'S

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 4 at 2019 7:42 PM

2019-11-04T19:42:31-05:00

The orderly room is basically the mini S1 for the company. It functions as the Hub between your company and the Battalion S1. You are in charge of tracking all the admin that passes between the Battalion and the company.
You should become very familiar with Excel and Word.

Response by SGM Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 4 at 2019 9:13 PM

2019-11-04T21:13:35-05:00

Much of the HR work is done in the OR. From tracking training to readiness of the entire Company. Also, tracking calendar activities is your Commander and 1SG would be part of your responsibility and organiziner of the calendar activities.
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Response by CSM Charles Hayden made Nov 4 at 2019 10:37 PM

2019-11-04T22:37:35-05:00

SGT Private RallyPoint Member An Orderly Room NCO would have duties similar to those of a Field First Sergeant, anything that is beneath the dignity of; or not important enough for the 1SG to do.

Y’all must be flush with headcount to have a ‘spare’ leg assigned to the orderly room as an assistant to the 1SG.

Response by SFC Monica Primus made Nov 5 at 2019 12:19 AM

2019-11-05T00:19:03-05:00

SGT Private RallyPoint Member , Your duties will depend upon Top and the CO and if there are others working there already. I had been the Training NCO for A-Company at Walter Reed, but my "Company" had over 500 soldiers in it. We had a Training NCO and an OPS NCO, along with 1-2 junior NCOs, 1-2 junior enlisted and 1 civilian, all of whom required monthly/quarterly/annual counseling and rating.

I agree with SFC Private RallyPoint Member , your are the mini S1. I had to coordinate, schedule, and track all the military and medical training for everyone in the company. I had an Excel spreadsheet that had over 100 data points on it for each Soldier. I also conducted all APFT, weapons training and testing, CTT, SRP, PAI, CIP, etc. The OPS NCO assisted me with coordinating ranges, getting ammo and weapons (since we don't have them assigned to us because it was a medical unit), vehicle inspections for those going on leave, etc. I also had to coordinate, plan, and execute NCO induction ceremonies as well a Change of Responsibility ceremony. I had to produce monthly and quarterly training reports that were presented to higher headquarters either by myself or by Top. At times, I would sit in Battalion meetings for Top when he had other commitments.

The junior enlisted answered phones, logged and tracked leave requests, awards, passes and any other paperwork.

It was a lot of OJT so communication is very important. If you don't understand something, ask. BUT, you don't want to run to TOP or CO everytime you have a question. Use your critical thinking skills. When you do have to ask a question, you should have already researched it so you have an idea of what the answer is. If you see a problem, come prepared with at least a possible solution.

Response by SSgt Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 5 at 2019 9:24 PM

2019-11-05T21:24:04-05:00

Be prepared do everything! Help the 1sgt(be the 1sgt) Help the CO(be the co) answer questions you don't know the answer to... learnt to type... listen to people bitch all the time..... but also get to know HOW IT ALL GETS DONE BEHIND THE SCENES.

Response by MSG Michael McKenzie made Nov 6 at 2019 10:33 AM

2019-11-06T10:33:32-05:00

As most of the commentators have stated, the orderly is the hub of administrative actions. Your saving grace will be due diligence to tracking those actions. And use a DA 200 and read receipts for everything. Follow-up all telephonic conversations with a reconfirmation e-mail. In short, always have a record. It will come in handy.

Response by SFC Casey O'Mally made Nov 6 at 2019 12:59 PM

2019-11-06T12:59:53-05:00

I have spent more time than I would have liked in an orderly room, across multiple units. There is no true job description, because each unit/Commander/1SG wants/needs different things from the O Room.

The primary things you will be doing are: 1) interfacing and coordinating with BN S Shops. This may include awards, promotions, NCOERs, and finance transactions with the S1; training and readiness statistics, order completion/compliance, and daily FragO coordination with S3; Clearance status, upcoming PRs, and Derogs with the S2, commo maintenance and computer software updates with the S6; and anything else needed by top 3.

2) create and maintain databases/spreadsheets for Commander/1SG. These will have things like NCOER due dates, awards status, APFT scores and due dates, weapons qual scores and due dates, leave dates, cq/staff duty rosters, duty platoon, active taskers, troop to task, uniform sizes, active and expired profiles, with dates, and any other data points the top 3 want to collect and/or monitor.

3) Serve as the central communication hub for the Company. You will know (roughly) the schedule of the top 3, help keep them on track, take messages for them, send e-mails on their behalf, and type memos for the Commander's signature. If you are good at your job, you will also be able to advise the Platoon leadership on where 1SG/CO are in regards to philosophy/stance. (For instance: "Hey, sir, I've seen Top rip through 5 awards with this type of wording. I will submit if you want to, but you might want to look at using a bit more active tense in this area before you send it up.") This saves some time on the PLT part, and fixes some of the problems so 1SG doesn't have to. Just remember that you ADVISE and do not have rejection authority (unless specifically granted for a specific situation).

4) Anything else the top 3 tell you to do.

I had one position where I spent almost my entire day building and maintaining the world's most comprehensive excel spreadsheet. I had another where I spent most of my day typing memos, and another where I spent most of my day back and forth with BN, schmoozing, building relationships, and processing paperwork. It really depends on what the top 3 want from you.

Your primary POC will be 1SG (assuming you are NCOIC. If there is an NCO over you, just do what (s)he tells you.) You really need to sit down with 1SG (or XO who may end up rating you), and ask what (s) wants you to focus on. It may be up to you to "figure it out" regarding HOW to do it, but you will need direction as to WHAT they want done. I assume there is an NCO you are replacing. You also need to sit down with that NCO and see where all of the existing data is located, to include memo shells, award shells, and powerpoint shells.

Response by CPL Shayne Sanchez made Nov 8 at 2019 5:00 PM

2019-11-08T17:00:31-05:00

I was a NCO in a HQ platoon . I was in Operations which had a little office in the motor pool. The orderly room NCO's all had different taskings and responsibilities. You had the Supply Sgt, Retention NCO, a NCO who would handle leave request and maybe one or two who were drivers for the CC, XO and the 1st SGT.....There is also a training NCO who kept all the records for PT test's, weigh in's and Ranges. I also remember a NCO who dealt with personnel coming into or out of the company.....Jesus to tell you the truth the company's orderly room was chock full of NCO's doing all kinds of stuff....