Why is ther such long wait to get ALC Common Core? Any ideas on how to get it?

SSG(P) Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 03 Dec 2013 08:53:12 -0500

The wait for common core is a pain when trying to add a huge chuck of points for promotion. It is an online course so why is there such a big wait to get into the course? I think the Army needs to enroll you into this course automatically after completing phase 2 of ALC or before you go to phase 2. Anyone have any advice or contacts that may be able to speed up the process...

Response by SGM Matthew Quick made Dec 3 at 2013 8:56 AM

SGM Matthew Quick — Tue, 03 Dec 2013 08:56:29 -0500

There is currently a backlog of SSGs without ALC-CC and they have priority.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 3 at 2013 9:49 AM

SFC Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 03 Dec 2013 09:49:50 -0500

Yes, I completed ALC in 2009 and just (as in 11/22/2013) received notification of enrollment to the ALC CC.

Response by SFC Michael Hasbun made Dec 3 at 2013 11:04 AM

SFC Michael Hasbun — Tue, 03 Dec 2013 11:04:37 -0500

A great many NCO's completely neglected their NCOES for years, and are suddenly realizing they can't get promoted without it. Hence the sudden massive demand.

Response by SFC Michael Hasbun made Dec 3 at 2013 11:04 AM

SFC Michael Hasbun — Tue, 03 Dec 2013 11:04:40 -0500

A great many NCO's completely neglected their NCOES for years, and are suddenly realizing they can't get promoted without it. Hence the sudden massive demand.

Response by SFC Michael Hasbun made Dec 3 at 2013 11:04 AM

SFC Michael Hasbun — Tue, 03 Dec 2013 11:04:42 -0500

A great many NCO's completely neglected their NCOES for years, and are suddenly realizing they can't get promoted without it. Hence the sudden massive demand. With the board coming up next month, I kinda saw this coming.

Response by CSM Mike Maynard made Dec 3 at 2013 10:34 PM

CSM Mike Maynard — Tue, 03 Dec 2013 22:34:02 -0500

Basically this boils down to a math and money issue.<div><br></div><div>There is only so much money to hire so many facilitators and each facilitator can only have so many students at one time - so, facilitator and facilitator to student ratio are our constraints.</div><div><br></div><div>Here is how mitigate the constraint, but we need cooperation from leaders and students.</div><div><br></div><div>Currently, ALC-CC students have 90 days to complete the course. It does not take that long, especially if we as leaders provide some duty time to get this stuff done.</div><div><br></div><div>If we "encourage" our NCOs to complete the course in 30 days (very doable, all of my folks are doing this now) instead of 90 days, we will be able to get three times as many folks through than what we are now.</div><div><br></div><div>Additionally, if you complete the course that quickly, you receive an "Academic Excellence Commendation" from the schoolhouse - pretty nice.</div><div><br></div><div>So leaders, let's encourage and enable our NCOs to complete ALC-CC in 30 days instead of 90 days and we will see the backlog disappear and we will see our folks being enrolled a lot quicker than what they are now.</div>

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 3 at 2013 11:07 PM

SFC Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 03 Dec 2013 23:07:31 -0500

SGT VanDouser, I just got an invite to a facebook for HRC Military Schools Branch. I checked it out and it is actually pretty informative. they are taking time to answer questions about this, promos, SSDs and more. I would definitely suggest you head over there and discuss.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 22 at 2013 5:26 PM

SFC Private RallyPoint Member — Sun, 22 Dec 2013 17:26:17 -0500

Even though it is an online course you are still have class mates and a teacher. You are involved in discussions etc. If you have a class date for ALC submit a 4187 to hrc requesting ALC Common core. Even though you may have completed phase 1 & 2, you still havent "graduated". All three requirements have to be completed I order to get credit and points.

Response by CW2 Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 29 at 2013 3:57 PM

CW2 Private RallyPoint Member — Sun, 29 Dec 2013 15:57:50 -0500

SGT,

When I was 1SG I contacted both the NCOES branch and USASMA directly to try to get people enrolled in common core and I was told I could not do it. So it's basically a wait until you come up automatically.

Response by MSG Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 29 at 2013 4:28 PM

MSG Private RallyPoint Member — Sun, 29 Dec 2013 16:28:32 -0500

From my experience you
need to get everyone in the NCO support channel involve. I had my CSM and S-3
SGM get involve and they got me a Class reservation 6 months out.

The
Army has a lot of SSGs that have not taken the course, due to OPTEMPO or lack
of initiative. If you are promotable and completed ALC phase 2 get your NCO
support channel involved. You may get someone piss, but you have to take care
of your own career by using the tools around you.

My
suggestions:

First
call the school branch NCO get some info and get your name on the waiting list.

Second
use your NCO support channel to get your name bump up on the list and get you a
reserve seat.

Third
be patient. This process is slow, so be patient. Fast tracking is great,
but you still need some experience to deal with more complex situations that you
will encounter in the next level.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 26 at 2014 2:12 PM

SFC Private RallyPoint Member — Sun, 26 Jan 2014 14:12:37 -0500

To beat a dead horse, OML (Order of Merit List) is the issue here. I work at USASMA and have inquired about this issue through the facilitators and team leads themselves. They all say the same thing which is that HRC follows the OML regardless of circumstance (i.e. continuous failures, no shows and or drops from the course) and those individuals just keep getting rotated back to the top of the OML. Obviously, this makes getting enrolled in the course harder for "newer" and up and coming NCO's that have motivation to be promoted. Long story short, as far as I know, the HRC process of enrollment for this course is broken to a degree.

Response by SGT(P) Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 29 at 2014 12:06 PM

SGT(P) Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 29 Jan 2014 12:06:56 -0500

I'm a SGT(P) with ALC trying to get common core and this is what I got from branch:

Due to the amount of seats and NCO's in the backlog, the
priorities of fill for ALC Common Core at this time are SFC and SSG. SGT(P) can
be placed in school as a reservation status if they have already completed
Phase 2 of ALC only after we have reserved SFC and SSG's. There is an OML for SGT(P) and is sorted by
Date of Rank. Currently SGT(P) that have
not completed resident course and SGT non-promotable are not a priority to be
placed in ALC Common Core. Upon being
reserved in a valid seat you will receive an email from ATRRS and one from the
technicians giving specific instructions for enrollment. As a SGT(P) it is recommended that you work
on other areas of improvement until you are selected from the OML and recieve
the email notification of enrollment.

Response by SGT(P) Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 29 at 2014 12:11 PM

SGT(P) Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 29 Jan 2014 12:11:01 -0500

HRC also posted this on their FB

We recieve a lot of questions in regards to ALC Common Core, and what the scheduling priority is. This is the official guidance from Military Schools Branch in regards to the scheduling of ALC CC:

Military Schools Branch schedules ALC Common Core based on an OML because of the limited number of ALC Common Core (ALC CC) quotas (13,323). Below is the priority for ALC Common Core:

1) SSG’s who have completed the Resident Phase
2) SSG’s who require common core and technical phase
3) SGT (P) who have completed the resident phase
4) SGT (P) who need common core and resident phase.
5) SGT Non Promotable if a seat is available

For questions or requests referencing ALC CC please forward them to: usarmy.knox.hrc.mbx.epmd-ac-nc [login to see] .