Over 10K US Army Soldiers promoted under COVID-era policy have not completed training requirements

The Post Millennial ^ | 1/22/24 | Sara Higdon

[CFW]

A new report reveals that more than 10,000 noncommissioned officers (NCOs) in the United States Army who were promoted under a COVID-19 era policy still have not completed the schooling requirements for that promotion.

According to Military.com, 52,000 NCOs were promoted under the supposedly temporary policy which waived the requirement to attend leadership academies before promotion eligibility. 20 percent had still not attended the required training.

The Select, Train, Educate, and Promote Policy (STEP) was adopted in 2016 and required all NCOs to attend schools before being eligible for promotion. Before that the Army allowed "conditional promotions." The new policy was supposed to ensure that an NCO was "appropriately trained as a leader" before they were promoted.

Under the COVID-era policy, exemptions were given to the STEP requirements, but the NCOs are supposed to be demoted if they are not in compliance with the regulation within a year of getting promoted. However, a large number of demotions at one time could cause larger issues for military planners.

[CFW]

The military is now just a social justice club for the left.

[ClearCase_guy]

I mean no offense to those good people out there who wear the uniform — but I do not think the US would do very well in a war. Not a big one. Not a small one. We are not what we used to be. But Lord knows the money does slosh around, and I guess that’s really the main point these days, right?

[TexasGunLover]

The military is now just a social justice club for the left.

That's been the plan since 2008.

[hinckley buzzard]

This will say a lot for our readiness to actually fight our own war for a change. Does not look good.

[Wuli]

In reality all active units have, on the books, continuous training and readiness requirements for all personnel.

On active duty at Battalion HQ level in both Korea and Germany, in the late 1960s, I oberved that the implementation of those requiremnets was largely fiction, with an NCO or clerk at the battalion HQ company just filling in all the check marks on everyone on the regular training and rediness reports. Actual ongoing training or readiness acrtivity - zilch, other than a rare occaisional mock emergency excercise at the battalion HQ in Korea.

[Midwesterner53]

Let me complete the sentence: more than 10,000 noncommissioned officers (NCOs) in the United States Army who were promoted under a COVID-19 era policy still have not completed the schooling requirements for that promotion” but have met diversity requirements. There, move along now, nothing more to see.

[FlingWingFlyer]

The Sad Sack Army. A lot of them are going to get killed. Amateur leaders don’t cut it. OJT leaders suck. Embrace the suck.

[RetiredTexasVet]

Think this might affect recruiting?

[OldMissileer]

I mean no offense to those good people out there who wear the uniform — but I do not think the US would do very well in a war.

An annual report is published that states whether the Services can meet their obligations to fight wars.

The over 20 years I was Active Duty that requirement was to be able to fight two simultaneous wars in two separate geographical locations and even with the terrible leadership of Carter and Clinton we met that requirement. About 15 or 20 years ago (IIRC) the requirement was lowered to fighting just one war.

Last year, for the first time in 50 years, the US Military was graded as incapable of performing the mission, reduced as it is. The exception was the US Marine Corps. They passed.

Before Obama it was mainly the Flag Officers who were culpable for doing damage, but at least we could meet the basic requirements. Nowadays the leadership has messed with the real war fighters at the lower levels and now the entire Military is infested with mentally ill people who have no intentions of fighting anything but American citizens, if/when the time comes.

[dfwgator]

[Newbomb Turk]

This started way back around the time of Operation Desert Storm 2003. Due to the continuing ongoing deployments the Army decided that you could push off attending NCO schools 2 years from accepting your next higher rank.

It used to be school first, then promotion.

If you did not complete Warrior Leader Course to get your E-5, Advance Leaders Course to get your E-6 or Senior Leader Course to get your E-7 within that 2 year period you would be returned to your previous rank.

I never saw a single Soldier returned to their previous rank though.

Now they have added Master Leaders Course, to be promotable to E-8 and CSM academy to reach the pinnacle of NCO development, SGM or CSM.

An ongoing problem is NCO's schools staffing. Covid did not help that because many great instructor level Soldiers departed from the military rather than take the Covid Vax.

Also, many dedicated instructors just retired because it was their time to get out of the military.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

Real training of junior NCOs, private to buck sergeant, has always been the purview of senior NCOs. Neither schools nor commissioned officers can do the job of senior NCOs.

And their realm is the unit: company, battalion, brigade and division, along with irregular units.

Personnel are under the leadership of their Command Sergeant Major. The officers are just there to “do other stuff”.

Most importantly, NCOs will be told what to study, what to memorize, and how to behave, and they will also be evaluated by senior NCOs. If the senior NCOs are good, the unit will be good, if they suck, then the unit will suck.