How the Army picks battalion commanders could get a major overhaul by next year

CSM Charles Hayden I was with an Airborne civil Affairs Battalion and being Airborne qualified was a requirement. After I broke my ankle, I was allowed to be their S4 but I was told to eventually go to a leg unit which I did. I went to ther 445th civil Affairs Battalion in Mountain View before going into the training command that you witnessed in Garden Grove.

LTC (Join to see) - I was around during the first part of the conversion to the APFT. But I look at the minimum standards on the ACFT and I'm pretty sure I pass at minimum levels and I don't run anymore (arthritis in both knees, can you guess my starting MOS?) and I'm carrying about 25 lbs of excess weight. IMO, this test should be easy for any males in any kind of decent physical condition. The deadlift minimum is a 140 lbs, leg lift is 1 REP, and you get 21 minutes to finish the run. That isn't exactly a level of a College Football player. Since I weight train around a number of women, if they can't Deadlift 140 lbs at the end of BCT, then the PT program in Basic blows. My only experience in a mixed unit was OCS, but if they had done PT at a level that would have challenged those of us coming out of Combat Arms, they would have lost all the females and a third of the men (and probably most of the TAC's). Maybe it's time to recognize the physical differences and go back to the segregated BCT where you could develop a training program that would get the females into the condition to pass this test without handicapping the male soldiers.

BTW, in my experience, the run times were the major failing point for males soldiers in my National Guard units. Stamina is always the hardest to maintain and the one that is lost the quickest. When I have came back for my backsliding times and got back into the gym, muscle strength comes back very quickly, but endurance is a lot slower. You are absolutely correct that having to take that test twice a year was a serious motivator to stay in shape that I haven't had for almost 25 years now.

Now maybe the stupid emphasis on APFT in your OER will come back to sanity. I had a commander give me a Meets Expectations for a 297.

CPT Lawrence Cable Thank you for your observations. My past commanders never made the APFT one of their priorities on my support form. It did help me in my career. It did open doors and it was a bragging point when I was trying to switch units. Prior to being 50 years old , I had a 300 about 80% of the time. Since I'm older, it's a lot harder now. I am now the G9 in my expeditionary support command. Since I have a full-time job that takes up about 50 to 60 hours of my weak, I opted out of Battalion command because I get home from work often as late as 2100 or later sometimes so I can't make the staff calls. Even with this unit, I can have an email suffice for my absence during a staff Call. 2 years ago before retirement. I just made 05 last year.

LTC (Join to see) - It was a make or break for an Infantry Officer, even had a large impact on the National Guard side in the only Brigade I served with on that side. It was much less so on the Engineer side, although the unit I served with was a Divisional Combat Engineer Bn, so they did expect Officers to pass with more than minimum points.
Oh, and I feel your pain about getting older. Don't let yourself go when you retire because it sucks getting back into condition as you get older. I just turned 64 and would be that bad example until recently. And I still am not at my goals.
BTW, congratulation on the promotion and your upcoming retirement. We all know the attrition that you survived to get where you are today.

McConnville? I saw a lot of him as the DCG Support in the 101st. He was really good.

Battalion Commanders? I wish we could yank the photo from the process. If the height weight every 6 months doesn't tell the story then what?

I think we'd be amazed by people with leadership and intellect that would suddenly appear if no photo were used in the process. The backroom meets the show room.

LTC (Join to see) Buzz words? Like in a haircut? :)

Being a Squid, I have no standing in this Army discussion. However, there are a number of great Marine equivalent officers of days gone by who thankfully weren’t bounced —Chesty Puller being one.

The comparison is not that alarming. Counter arguments
- we have successfully run it this way for decades. Some wold argue 95% of the time they get it about right. Sucks if you are in the 5% where they didn't, but 95% is not bad.
- Ranger School is 63 days of fairly direct scrutiny for sure. The scrutiny of a Battalion Command candidate had been under scrutiny for years including a commissioning source, all the KD positions including 12-24 months in Company Command, formal PME, three successive promotion boards, the existing selection board, the ILE selection board. Not to mention a series of successive raters and senior raters that evaluated the officer.

LTC Jason Mackay The “5%” I experienced are the ones that remain in memory.

CSM Charles Hayden - they always do. People always remember how you made them feel.