Army NCO Promotion Changes

Army Changes NCO Promotion Requirements

If there is any sign that you can look to for how to tell that the Army is trying to transition away from a war-time machine back to a garrison Army, look no further than the promotion system. The Army, and all the services, set requirements and standards for promotions that they expect their soldiers to meet. What they use for the standards are the things that they think are very valuable to the Army so by rewarding and promoting with certain criteria, you expect to get more of those things.It seems that now the Army is no longer valuing actual combat experience and is instead returning to a focus on schools and PT. Better PT scores and more education will make it more likely for someone to get promoted as an NCO. Combat experience is no longer being awarded any extra points in the promotion system.From the Army Times:Starting Jan. 1, soldiers must meet new education requirements to get promoted to sergeant and staff sergeant.These troops will also have to contend with a revised promotion point chart — one that favors soldiers with more education and better PT, marksmanship and foreign language skills.Under the revised chart “combat experience” will no longer earn you extra points.

The changes are the first phase in a three-phase strategy to expand STEP among the NCO ranks. STEP stands for “select, train, educate and promote.”Later in 2016, education requirements will also become mandatory to make sergeant first class. STEP extends to master sergeant promotions in 2017.“This is not just a specialist to sergeant requirement,” said Sergeant Major of the Army Dan Dailey. “Every NCO will have to follow STEP, so that’s a major change.”“We want to make sure that (the soldiers) leading the men and women of our nation are fully trained, and that they have the proper education and experience to handle whatever mission or complexities they may face,” said the Army’s senior-ranking enlisted soldier.Read the rest at Army Times[mwi-cat-listing cat="94" ppp="4" cols="4" desc="false" type="view" btn_color="black" ]