Career Progression Guide for Soldiers

By Audie G. Lewis

This fully updated and expanded third edition is an ideal how-to book for soldiers wanting to attain rank in the service. Includes advice and proven techniques for improving duty performance and increasing promotion points, together with samples of forms and formats for applying for promotion and for appearing before promotion boards. Includes requirements for warrant officer and commissioned officer opportunities, and methods for overcoming obstacles to promotion.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Stackpole Books
• Release date: Jun 13, 2008
• ISBN: 9780811740258

Audie G. Lewis

Audie G. Lewis es un respetado líder en el mundo de los negocios, líder laico en su iglesia y autor de cuatro libros. Lewis estudió en el Seminario Teológico Bautista del Sur y actualmente se está preparando para obtener un Doctorado en Filosofía con especialidad en Biblia y Teología por la Universidad Bautista de Luisiana.

Book preview

Copyright © 2008 by Stackpole Books

Published by

STACKPOLE BOOKS

5067 Ritter Road

Mechanicsburg, PA 17055

www.stackpolebooks.com

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. All inquiries should be addressed to Stackpole Books, 5067 Ritter Road, Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania 17055.

Printed in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2

THIRD EDITION

This book is not an official publication of the Department of Defense or the Department of the Army, nor does its publication in any way imply endorsement by those agencies.

Cover design by Wendy A. Reynolds

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Lewis, Audie G.

Career progression guide for soldiers: a practical, complete guide for getting ahead in today’s competitive Army / Audie G. Lewis.—3rd ed.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 0-8117-3491-2 (alk. paper)

1. United States. Army—Promotions. 2. United States. Army—Vocational guidance. I. Title

UB323.L43 2003

355'.0023'73—dc21

2003045512

ISBN 978-0-8117-3491-2

This third edition is dedicated to all the ordinary heroes who serve or have served in our nation’s military. Your service is greatly appreciated and commended!

Contents

Acknowledgments

Preface

Introduction

PART I: THE ENLISTED PROMOTION SYSTEM

1: Promotions from Private through Specialist/Corporal

Why the Army Promotes

The Decentralized Promotion System for Private through Specialist/Corporal

Special Advancements

Starting Off on the Right Foot

Duty Performance Is the Key to Success

An Example of a Soldier Who Excels

Strive for Secondary Zone Promotions

Additional Methods of Improving Skills

Avoiding the Pitfalls of Youth

Wiping the Slate Clean

Other Ways to Stand Out in the Crowd

2: Promotions to Sergeant and Staff Sergeant

A New Level of Responsibility

Primary and Secondary Zones of Consideration

Semicentralized Promotion System for SGTs and SSGs

Promotion Point Reevaluations

3: Senior Noncommissioned Officer Promotions, E-7 through E-9

The Highest Level of NCO Responsibility

Primary and Secondary Zones of Consideration

Typical Organization of a Centralized Board

Preparation: The Key to Success

Centralized Board Proceedings

Understanding Board Results

Factors in Secondary Zone Promotions

PART II: THE ROLE OF EDUCATION

4: Military Education

The Noncommissioned Officer Education System (NCOES)

NCOES Functional Courses

Army Correspondence Course Program (ACCP)

MOS Classification and Reclassification

Soldier Training Courses

Major Army Command (MACOM)-Sponsored Training Courses

Master Fitness Training

Combat Lifesaver Course

Other Sources of Military Education and Training

5: Civilian Education

You Can Go to College

SOCAD-2/4

Degree Programs

Admission to College

Paying for College

Going to Class

Tips for Developing a Flexible Degree Program

Working Smarter, Not Harder, in College

Facing Problems in College

6: Nontraditional Education

Documenting the Learning Experience

Independent or Directed-Study College Courses

Cable Television or Video Courses

On-line Courses via a Personal Computer

Lunchtime, Evening, or Night College Classes

College through Correspondence

College-Level Equivalency Examinations for Credit

What to Expect from an Army Education Counselor

College Credit for Your Military Experience

Tips on Documenting Your Military Experience for College Credit

PART III: PROGRESSION TO THE OFFICER RANKS

7: Warrant Officer Selection

Warrant Officer Training and Career Potential

Warrant Officer Selection Criteria

Board Selection Criteria

Requesting Waivers

Letters of Recommendation

How to Address Background Problems

Other Requirements for Selection

8: Commissioned Officer Selection

ROTC

West Point and West Point Prep School

OCS

PART IV: DEMONSTRATED TECHNIQUES FOR PROMOTION AND COLLEGE

9: SGT Smith Gets Promoted

A Career Progression Interview with the Commander

Duty Performance and Board Points

Physical Training Improvement

Marksmanship Improvement

Awards Improvement

Military Education Improvement

Civilian Education Promotion Points through Testing

SGT Smith’s Progress

10: SGT Jones Goes to College

Using an AARTS Transcript Effectively

SGT Jones Visits His College Advisor

The College Evaluates SGT Jones’s Credit

SGT Jones Revisits His College Advisor

SGT Jones Registers for His First Class

SGT Jones’s College Successes

PART V: SPECIAL TOPICS

11: Overcoming Major Career Progression Problems

QMP

RCP

Personnel Background/Skills Survey

12: Why Set Goals?

A New Soldier Takes Charge of His Career

Sources

Index

Acknowledgments

I am very thankful for the help of Laurie Marks, Chief of the Personnel Services Division, at Fort Bragg, North Carolina as well as Laurie Baty, Human Resource Assistant and Joyce Land, the Branch Manager within these related offices. They provided courteous assistance and much needed guidance for updating this latest edition of the Career Progression Guide for Soldiers. Additionally, I would like to thank Virginia S. Danieley, Dave Reisch and a host of other Stackpole professionals for assisting me in all the editorial and production work associated with this project.

Preface

The purpose of this book is to provide you with the tools necessary to manage your own military career progression and professional development. To a large extent, you are the master of your career. Your motivation, or lack of, to excel will determine the jobs you hold and the rank you will attain in the future. Unfortunately for most soldiers, very little information or assistance is available at the unit level on career management and progression. It often takes years of Army experience before a soldier can somewhat effectively manage his or her career. At that point, it often becomes obvious that a lack of knowledge has cost a soldier dearly. This guide can aid the soldier at every step of professional development and career progression.

You can benefit from this guide regardless of rank. For the young soldier, you will be more prepared to guide your career successfully from the start if you read and apply the ideas presented here rather than simply arriving at your first duty station and winging it. This book can help even new privates make a positive start in their Army careers. While most PVls are promoted within the normal six months, few realize that they can manage their careers to allow them to become promoted in only four months. And even more exciting is the possibility to make the rank of E-5 within two years of entering the Army! Even if being promoted at rocket speed is not your goal, this book should be indispensable in managing your early Army career.

This book is especially helpful to soldiers who want to build points for promotion boards to the ranks of E-5 and E-6. Good tips on increasing your promotion points in all possible areas are thoroughly discussed. Additionally, advice is given on facing what can be an intimidating process of entering college and on making the most of a college program.

For those wishing to obtain the higher NCO ranks, or even for those striving to become a warrant or commissioned officer, this book will guide you through the various requirements and provide you with the best resources to reach your goals as a professional soldier. Even if your career is being restrained due to past or present problems, such as a bad Noncommissioned Officer Evaluation Report (NCOER) or a qualitative management program (QMP) board decision, advice is given on how to manage your career despite these setbacks.

Officers will also benefit from reading this book. Functioning well within the Army should include a thorough understanding of the promotion system for all ranks, including the enlisted ranks. Commanders and leaders who truly want to implement sound promotion policies will do well to know how the system works and should be able to assist or point out opportunities for professional development and promotion to their soldiers. This guide provides a wealth of material to aid in this soldier care function.

Today’s soldiers have countless opportunities to set and reach their professional goals. All that is needed is soldier self-motivation, a good plan, and the resources to make it happen. The resources exist and, for the most part, are free of charge. The Career Progression Guide for Soldiers is an indispensable resource to every soldier in his or her progress to reach those goals.

Many things have changed since the first edition of the Career Progression Guide for Soldiers was published in 1998. Perhaps one of the biggest changes has been the rapid progression of electronic communications within the military. Now more than ever, the Army is taking advantage of every conceivable form of electronic media in an effort to curb costs, increase efficiencies, and speed up processes. Army regulations, DA Pamphlets, and a wide host of common forms are now available only through electronic publications and digital repositories.

Similarly, soldiers now have individual Army Knowledge Online (AKO) accounts that help them to improve their chances for promotion and manage their own records. Likewise, college is now available to more and more people regardless of their location or deployment status as a result of the new eArmyU program that allows soldiers to attend fully accredited and free virtual classes via a personal laptop computer given to them when they ìsign upî for this newest program.

Expectations have changed as well. Education is more important than ever to this rapidly changing modern Army. Promotions and success in todayís Army hinge even more importantly on the amount and quality of each soldierís civilian and military training arsenal. Rapid promotions definitely favor those with solid skills built on college coursework and enhanced military training. It could easily be argued that in today’s Army promotions come quickest to those who have done their homework.

This third edition of the Career Progression Guide for Soldiers includes the latest changes in the Army while maintaining the timeless advice that has helped numerous others obtain greater success in reaching their goals. Additionally, this edition contains many of the newest web site addresses and contact information needed to access information and resources critical to soldier career progression.

Introduction

The increasing frequency and duration of unit deployments within recent years has placed a major strain upon the services to handle promotion, education and career development pathways for today’s military. Fortunately, the Army has responded to these changes with an ever increasing move toward decentralized decision making for promotions and related opportunities. The Department of the Army and Human Resource Command has delegated a wide degree of approvals downward toward the brigade and battalion command levels in an effort to improve the timeliness of these critically important soldier-care issues.

Through Army Knowledge Online (AKO) accounts, soldiers now maintain significantly more control over their military record files and can update them through this exceptional online tool chest. Many of the paper tasks of yester-years have been virtually replaced with interactive and fast online tools. These tools make upkeep and quality control achievable for individual soldiers regardless of their unit location.

These types of changes will undoubtedly help soldiers to get promoted more predictably with more of the emphasis for corrections and timeliness to be controlled by the individual as opposed to system administrators. Many routine tasks have become mandated as online only submissions in order to streamline the Army’s paperwork trails. Non-commissioned officer reports (NCOERs) are one of the many former paper heavy functions that have now been successfully automated for soldiers.

The Non-Commissioned Officer Education System (NCOES) has been undergoing a lot of change as well. One of the biggest changes within this venue has been the Primary Leadership Development Course (PLDC) which has now been changed to the Warrior Leader Course (WLC). The WLC places a new emphasis on skills that allow small-unit leaders to function as viable independent leaders in step with the operational tempo of today’s diverse battlefield and technical landscape.

The current environment for promotion and advancement is extremely good. Opportunities to get promoted faster or get selected for advanced training and/or commissioning sources are prevalent and attainable. Likewise, the increasing need for a growing military has created a growing number of bonus options for Army personnel moving from over-strength mission areas to under-strength areas. Without a doubt, career advancement within in the Army is more achievable than ever before!

PART I

The Enlisted Promotion System

1

Promotions from Private through Specialist/Corporal

WHY THE ARMY PROMOTES

The Army promotes soldiers because it needs to. Although not necessarily profound, this statement does get to the heart of a very important Army function. Promotions happen because they are meant to fulfill specific Army objectives. Soldiers fill certain required jobs within the force structure of the Army. Each of these positions has various requirements for differing levels of responsibility,