Just promoted Army Sgt. Timothy Simmons, left, and Sgt. Nathan Painter, center, have their previous ranks "washed" from them as they salute after a promotion ceremony in Baghdad, July 25, 2009. Formerly specialists, the pair at the time had been assigned to the West Virginia Army National Guard's 150th Armored Reconnaissance Squadron, 30th Heavy Brigade Combat Team. (Army https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/ by Spc. Gregory Keys)
By: FEDweek StaffThe service is expanding the way it manages talent of its senior NCOs, with an eye toward placing “the right leaders in the right jobs,” the service stated in a recent press release. The new program is patterned after a similar program now in place for lieutenant colonels and colonels.
“Now we’re going to have an opportunity to really use objective assessments to complement the current subjective evaluations that are already used as we select battalion and brigade command sergeants major,” said Maj. Jed Hudson, head of the program’s task force for enlisted talent.
Following a pilot test of the program for first sergeants at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, plans are afoot to conduct similar pilots for the 1st Infantry Division, 10th Mountain Division, and units in Alaska sometime later this year. The assessments entail collecting data on individual soldiers that measure such traits as ethics, general intelligence and decision-making. Commanders would use the data in addition to what is already available when they determine which soldiers should advance and where they should go.
Junior non-commissioned officers someday could benefit from the same Army talent-management program that improves the path to success and promotion for their immediate superiors, the program’s leaders said.
