What policy or rule would you like changed and to what and why?

I am reclassing right now so I am currently at AIT at Fort Sill. If I could change one thing it would be the way everyone walks on their tiptoes around privates. Scared to say certain things because it might be considered offensive. Platoon Sgts and instructors are the only ones that are supposed to correct the privates. I was told on day one (as a SSG), leave the privates alone, dont correct them, dont wake them up etc....these kids sleep through class, the instructor threatens them with counselings but they never happen. When they do get "smoked", its 10 push ups and a couple power jumps. Really weak. No hardcore ass chewings. No knife hands. Was a big culture shock coming from the Corps to the Army.

Frocking...if you’re in a position and promotable, then we should be able to have you wear the rank.

Let me apologize up front, because this has the potential to be pretty long winded (depending on which rabbit holes I choose to run down along the way).

LTC Porter touches on it when he spoke of frocking. In my opinion, the senior enlisted promotion system needs an overhaul. I will say that it’s worked out in my favor every time I’ve (my packet anyway) went before a centralized promotion board, but for every example where the board got it right, I can easily point to two where it has failed in the ways pointed out in the next paragraph.

I would argue that the “big army” has failed to adequately promote deserving individuals into positions of increased responsibility, and in so doing has erroneously promoted a relatively high percentage of undeserving personnel into those same positions of trust.

What’s the issue you may ask. The lack of personal, first hand knowledge of performance, work ethic, and MOS knowledge by board members. The new NCOER strove to eliminate bloated evaluations, and has achieved a small measure of success in that endeavor, but much work remains to be done.

My recommendation would be for centralized boards to be moved from the purview of DA/HRC and delegated to senior enlisted leaders at the division level. This would allow for personnel within a Soldier’s rating chain to provide a real world assessment of those before the board that simply can’t be matched by bullet points or three line paragraphs covering potential contained within the NCOER.

Each Division would be allocated X number of promotions to a given grade within a MOS and select the best qualified for those positions. I understand the challenges in forecasting vacancies at each grade/MOS across the force at the DA level, but that would be greatly alleviated by relying on subordinate reporting units (Divisions/Brigades) to crunch the numbers and figure out what’s needed at their level. Potentially, this could lead to units where promotions stagnate based on the longevity of senior leaders currently in position, but PCS can help to solve that from year to year. This leads me on another tangent....

PCS moves and how they’re conducted by HRC, are another system that needs to be revamped. Find me a Fortune 500 company anywhere that is totally dependent on a single point of failure (eg. Branch Manager) to move personnel from location to location for no reason other than “broadening” the selected person’s portfolio or filling vacancies brought about by those same broadening moves of other personnel. Anywhere else in the world where organizations seek high performers and to be the best company/business/organization, an interview process takes place for lateral appointments or promotions, ensuring not only that the best personnel are selected for promotions, but also that those personnel will fit well within the existing framework of a business.

As it currently stands, if we’re being honest with ourselves, most moves of personnel (at least in the grades of E6-E8) are completely arbitrary and do little to achieve organizational goals at the gaining or losing unit. Allow leadership at the BN level to accept “applications” from interested individuals at the required (or -1) pay grade and select them as appropriate based on the needs and mission set of the organization. This will serve two purposes; personnel with strengths, ASIs, and SQIs identified as critical by a gaining units can be actively sought in order to facilitate increased lethality/efficiency in the conduct of wartime missions. Additionally, personnel whose skill set doesn’t provide much value added can be identified and selected for additional institutional training by home station units IOT build their organic units capability in conducting full spectrum, decisive action wartime missions.

Told you it could be long. Sorry.

TLDR; move promotions to the division level, and change PCS moves to an “interview” process ensuring that only personnel who are truly going to be an asset to units are selected for promotion or selected to work at a given unit.