The sergeant and staff sergeant promotion system for active and reserve soldiers will be completely overhauled effective Aug. 1, 2008. The date coincides with the Army’s conversion to the Defense Integrated Human Resources Management System (see next item). Points will be redistributed, and separate point values will be assigned for sergeant and staff sergeant candidates. The system will retain the six achievement categories and a maximum of 800 points. A new promotion point worksheet will reflect the changes, which will emphasize factors such as combat tours, marksmanship and physical fitness scores. For example, soldiers will earn three promotion points for each month of combat service. In addition, the total points for military awards and military education courses will increase for staff sergeant candidates. Army officials plan to publicize the changes early enough for affected soldiers to plan for point accumulation (see next item).