E-4 to E-5 attend the promotion board and utilize the point system and E-5 to E-6 use NCOER, ERB, and DA Photo for promotion any thoughts?

1SG Patrick Burke - Like I said, a bully. It has been my experience that during a time of war/conflict that lasts as long as this one, that many good people vote with their feet and those that stay behind get promoted only because they had no good competition. I voted with my feet, you rose to your position when three to four time as many people got out than due to constant deployments and chances of being maimed or injured or killed. Having worked at Walter Reed for the Army Wounded Program (AW2), I constantly heard this form NCO's and officers. Promotion is swift due to the exodus of good NCO's and Officers for those left behind. The remaining personnel are not necessarily the best or brightest.

Some who stay in, know they couldn't cut it on the outside. Are you one of them????

SSG Robert White - Nope. You have a lot of first hand knowledge that you gained from stories. Glad you did get out instead of limping your way through the Army. The military is not made for everyone, good to see you made the right decision. As for me, I was a Senior NCO prior to the war. Not many mass exit at the SFC - MSG level. Did you deploy anywhere or just ride a desk?

1SG Patrick Burke - Yep. you can ask the CIA/NSA where I went to. And, yes I worked behind a desk when it was required. As for limping along, again, I see the BULLY in you.
If you can grow up and stop name calling, we can have an ADULT conversation, until then, you will not hear from me. I'm not going to be baited.
But, really, Ask CIA/NSA. I worked for NSA, but sometimes they did joint missions. I did that for one tour. I spent 3/4's of my AD overseas. Most of it in strategic intelligence centers. Twice I ensured that Americans didn't get killed. It's no big deal. Others did similar things. Unfortunately one that I saved, died two years later of cancer.

SSG Robert White - To show that I am a good sport. Appreciate your Service to this great nation. Since I will not be hearing from you, good luck in the future.

I completely agree with technical and tactical tests. We should want to see how a Soldier performs in a given situation, how well a Soldier knows his/her job. I wish it were easy enough to conduct scenario based training as part of the evaluation. Throw the Soldier in a situation, see how they handle it, what actions they take, and the reasoning they used to decide on the actions they took. It'd give so much more insight on the readiness of the Soldier to possess a higher level of responsibility as they move through the ranks. I do see improvement made on the new NCOER to help with the "walks on water" epidemic, though. Hopefully more good changes are to follow!

So what would be the tactical skill for a Cryptanalyst (Code Breaker). He/She works for NSA. Only 20% of forces are combat arms. Even though the Army has supposedly taken the USMC's attitude that everyone is an infantryman. That is the theory, but not the reality. I don't see pilots, or JAG officers being used as infantry soldiers. The reality with a insurgent conflict with no FEBA, everyone is expected to man a post, do security patrols and respond with their firearms if attacked. Having worked for the Army Wounded Warrior Program at Walter Reed (2008-2010), the most causalities were from the Non-Combat Arm's individuals. When I was RA (this is the old MOS) I left as a 98C3T9 (EW/SIGINT Analyst/EW/Cryptologic Cryptanalyst). Though I started out a AR as a 11C1 in Co A, 2nd Bn, 11 SF (this is about 8 yrs before the 18 series came out). Other than DnC, neither one of these jobs has nothing common. How would you screen for both and be fair?

A lot of MOS's already have tests in place for certification purposes.

That's exactly what happened to me. I was an E-5 in for 15 years and 8 months. Because I was in a shitty MOS and the cutoff score never dropped below 798. But, the Army kept bringing in 52C's I seen one of the guys that worked for me ended up able to retire with 20 years. The only good thing I have to remind me that I was in the Army is 50% disability from jumping out of Airplanes and my 10% discount I get at Lowes and Home Depot.

SSG (Join to see) - Did you know that you can edit your comments/remarks after they are posted? Re-visit one of your comments (using a computer/not a smart phone), such as this one and look just above the Vote Up item in your comment and you should see the word Edit, Click on it.

SGT Roberto Mendoza-Diaz - Please tell me where I said everyone is a shitbag? All I stated was there are people who get promoted that don't perform up to par but obviously you are reaching to find drama in my reply. If you feel that every NCO with stripes deserves their stripe then you have been lucky enough to have great people in your unit. No one has every been under my thumb and I have sent many deserving Soldiers to the promotion board. On another note I don't give 2 fucks how you feel about me my only concern is with the Soldiers to my left and right not someone who makes an assumption via the Internet.

SGT Roberto Mendoza-Diaz - This response is the perfect example of how an E-5 thinks vs a SGT...

SGT Robert Vollentine - That's correct any shitbag can be an E-5 or a SGT however, only a NCO can be a leader. Anything less and you are worthless.