From: John Atkinson <johnmatkinson@y...>
Date: Wed, 11 Sep 2002 16:42:59 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Re: [OT] US Army NCO promotions, was Personal hoody-hoo
> --- "K.H.Ranitzsch" <KH.Ranitzsch@t-online.de> wrote: OK, there's 3 parts to making SGT which is the most junior NCO normally used by US Army. Paygrade is E-5. There's points, board, and PLDC. PLDC is a school which my 1SG (Indeed, First Sergeant, company senior NCO) wants to get me into next month if possible. Points is a centralized Army system where you recieve X amounts for job performance, PT Test, weapon qualification, awards and decorations, military education, and civillian education. I have 296, plus 146 from the board (which take effect in 60 days). The Army sets the points required for promotion higher and lower to control how many people are promoted based on how many NCOs they need. For my MOS, the cutoff score is 415. So I'm 27 over the minimum. The promotion board consists of standing in front of senior NCOs (except in my case--the BN Commander was subbing for the CSM who was in Pennsylvania for a conference) while they throw trivia questions at you (What day is the Army birthday? What types of gasses does the promask not protect against? What are the 9 principles of battle-focused training? How many days extra duty may be assigned by a company commander? etc.) while they asess you for military bearing, confidence, and knowledge. Nerve-wracking but I'm done with it untill I'm ready to be promoted again. Once a soldier has been the board he is said to be in "promotable status". This means he is definitely viewed as a sergeant-in-training, and to this end is often pinned (it's not a real promotion since you don't make any more money) corporal, which fits you in on the bottom of the NCO rungs allowing you to pull duties which require an NCO to supervise, such as CQ. This gem of a duty involves sitting up for 24 hours on the bottom floor of the barracks handling emergencies. Hence the reference to the duty roster. A corporal is an ersatz sergeant.