thedrifter
08-16-05, 12:29 PM
August 22, 2005
Building a better NCO
Retired Marine has big ideas to improve training, promotions — but will they see the light of day?
By Gordon Lubold
Times staff writer
You probably have never met Ken Curcio. He retired as a colonel in 2002 and now works for an in-house Marine Corps think tank called the Center for Emerging Threats and Opportunities that few Marines have ever heard of.
But Curcio’s ideas for mixing up the Corps’ personnel, training and education systems for noncommissioned officers could affect you greatly if any of his radical ideas see the light of day.
And with the Corps poised to embrace concepts such as Distributed Operations — a new combat operations strategy that gives more combat power and independence to squads and their NCO leaders to better master the kinds of unconventional warfare playing out on the battlefield — manpower planners could stand to sit down and listen to someone like Curcio.
The trim 57-year-old former infantry officer thinks today’s Marine NCOs are some of the most intelligent, talented and motivated people he knows. And their success is all the more impressive, he says, because the system falls short in several areas. Fix that, tweak this and overhaul that over there, and the Corps might just find itself with even better junior leaders.
“NCOs are as good as they are in spite of the training and the policies that we’ve established to make them that way,” he said.
Modest proposals
It’s far from clear whether Curcio’s ideas will get major play. Manpower officials are sorting through proposals from a number of arenas intended to shake things up in assignments, promotions and training, and which one will win out is still unknown.
The Marine Corps Warfighting Lab sponsored a Small Unit Excellence Conference at Quantico, Va., in May in which Corps thinkers, leaders, commanders and others discussed how Distributed Operations will force the Corps to change the way it trains, equips, educates and promotes Marines.
Curcio’s proposals were not part of the conference, but many believe the Corps is looking to re-shape personnel processes in a similar vein.
That said, Lt. Gen. Jim Mattis, commander of Marine Corps Combat Development Command, took a pass on commenting on Curcio’s proposals, a Marine spokesman said.
Of course, manpower and training officials are already busy mixing things up. Training and Education Command is gradually revamping professional military education programs, and lessons learned from the field are constantly being added to training.
This, however, is Ken Curcio’s (only slightly utopian) view of how the Corps’ manpower, training and education operations should run:
Beyond cutting scores. First off, Curcio wants to take the numbers game out of the promotion process by giving unit commanders more discretion to promote — or not promote — a Marine to the NCO ranks. He’d also like to see local screening boards formed to help advise the commander on promotions.
The current composite-score system used for NCO promotions awards promotion points to Marines based on a combination of physical fitness test and rifle range scores, as well as proficiency and conduct marks and other factors. Curcio says that system works fairly, but he’d like to give commanders more promotion discretion by allowing them to use the cutting score as a baseline for promotion — and then allow a commander and a local board to decide whether that Marine merits promotion.
It’s an idea many have seized on over the years.
“I’ve never been a big proponent of centralized promotion of NCOs,” said T.X. Hammes, a retired colonel who commanded units that included the Marine Corps Chemical-Biological Incident Response Force.
Hammes, a counterinsurgency expert who believes adapting the services to deal with today’s combat missions requires changes to the manpower system, believes centralized promotion of junior Marines is kind of “like a factory” and doesn’t always promote the right people at the right time.
“We need NCOs with great maturity,” he said.
Of course, commanders have the authority to stop a promotion. But Curcio says the perception among most commanders is that it’s an unwritten rule that if a Marine’s composite score makes him eligible for promotion, the boss shouldn’t stand in the way.
That, he says, needs to change. “My idea is to put more power to the guy who knows the guys the best than someone back at headquarters.”
Curcio would also like to see Marines be required to volunteer to become an NCO. In so doing, only the most motivated Marines would get the nod. Naturally, Marines want a promotion, if only for the money, but are they always ready for a leadership role? Maybe not, Curcio said.
“If he’s not doing it to take on the additional responsibility, if he’s just doing it to take a pay raise, the volunteering aspect might keep those who might not be doing it for the right reasons from wasting a space,” he said.
All of this plays into Curcio’s contention that NCOs should be more “seasoned.” That is, if the Corps is going to expect Marines to make split-second decisions that have strategic consequences and employ cutting-edge technology, they’d better be prepared.
But forcing Marines to spend more time in the junior ranks could have a deleterious effect on retention, manpower officials said.
A recent survey showed that promotion timing was the third most important thing that affected a Marine’s decision to re-enlist or not, according to a survey of those first-term Marines who re-enlisted in 2005, manpower officials said.
“While seasoning NCOs longer might provide more experienced leaders, there is a correlation on retention as well as a slowing of the promotions tempo,” said Lt. Col. Richard Long, a Marine Corps spokesman at Quantico.
Level the field. And here’s an idea that might lead some to brand Curcio as a heretic: de-emphasize special-duty assignments. Whoa. How’s that again?
Special-duty assignments, such as drill instructor, Marine Security Guard, recruiter, combat instructor and security forces, require Marines to leave their military occupational specialty for three years. In return, that Marine gets a competitive edge for promotion if he has a successful tour.
continued...
Building a better NCO
Retired Marine has big ideas to improve training, promotions — but will they see the light of day?
By Gordon Lubold
Times staff writer
You probably have never met Ken Curcio. He retired as a colonel in 2002 and now works for an in-house Marine Corps think tank called the Center for Emerging Threats and Opportunities that few Marines have ever heard of.
But Curcio’s ideas for mixing up the Corps’ personnel, training and education systems for noncommissioned officers could affect you greatly if any of his radical ideas see the light of day.
And with the Corps poised to embrace concepts such as Distributed Operations — a new combat operations strategy that gives more combat power and independence to squads and their NCO leaders to better master the kinds of unconventional warfare playing out on the battlefield — manpower planners could stand to sit down and listen to someone like Curcio.
The trim 57-year-old former infantry officer thinks today’s Marine NCOs are some of the most intelligent, talented and motivated people he knows. And their success is all the more impressive, he says, because the system falls short in several areas. Fix that, tweak this and overhaul that over there, and the Corps might just find itself with even better junior leaders.
“NCOs are as good as they are in spite of the training and the policies that we’ve established to make them that way,” he said.
Modest proposals
It’s far from clear whether Curcio’s ideas will get major play. Manpower officials are sorting through proposals from a number of arenas intended to shake things up in assignments, promotions and training, and which one will win out is still unknown.
The Marine Corps Warfighting Lab sponsored a Small Unit Excellence Conference at Quantico, Va., in May in which Corps thinkers, leaders, commanders and others discussed how Distributed Operations will force the Corps to change the way it trains, equips, educates and promotes Marines.
Curcio’s proposals were not part of the conference, but many believe the Corps is looking to re-shape personnel processes in a similar vein.
That said, Lt. Gen. Jim Mattis, commander of Marine Corps Combat Development Command, took a pass on commenting on Curcio’s proposals, a Marine spokesman said.
Of course, manpower and training officials are already busy mixing things up. Training and Education Command is gradually revamping professional military education programs, and lessons learned from the field are constantly being added to training.
This, however, is Ken Curcio’s (only slightly utopian) view of how the Corps’ manpower, training and education operations should run:
Beyond cutting scores. First off, Curcio wants to take the numbers game out of the promotion process by giving unit commanders more discretion to promote — or not promote — a Marine to the NCO ranks. He’d also like to see local screening boards formed to help advise the commander on promotions.
The current composite-score system used for NCO promotions awards promotion points to Marines based on a combination of physical fitness test and rifle range scores, as well as proficiency and conduct marks and other factors. Curcio says that system works fairly, but he’d like to give commanders more promotion discretion by allowing them to use the cutting score as a baseline for promotion — and then allow a commander and a local board to decide whether that Marine merits promotion.
It’s an idea many have seized on over the years.
“I’ve never been a big proponent of centralized promotion of NCOs,” said T.X. Hammes, a retired colonel who commanded units that included the Marine Corps Chemical-Biological Incident Response Force.
Hammes, a counterinsurgency expert who believes adapting the services to deal with today’s combat missions requires changes to the manpower system, believes centralized promotion of junior Marines is kind of “like a factory” and doesn’t always promote the right people at the right time.
“We need NCOs with great maturity,” he said.
Of course, commanders have the authority to stop a promotion. But Curcio says the perception among most commanders is that it’s an unwritten rule that if a Marine’s composite score makes him eligible for promotion, the boss shouldn’t stand in the way.
That, he says, needs to change. “My idea is to put more power to the guy who knows the guys the best than someone back at headquarters.”
Curcio would also like to see Marines be required to volunteer to become an NCO. In so doing, only the most motivated Marines would get the nod. Naturally, Marines want a promotion, if only for the money, but are they always ready for a leadership role? Maybe not, Curcio said.
“If he’s not doing it to take on the additional responsibility, if he’s just doing it to take a pay raise, the volunteering aspect might keep those who might not be doing it for the right reasons from wasting a space,” he said.
All of this plays into Curcio’s contention that NCOs should be more “seasoned.” That is, if the Corps is going to expect Marines to make split-second decisions that have strategic consequences and employ cutting-edge technology, they’d better be prepared.
But forcing Marines to spend more time in the junior ranks could have a deleterious effect on retention, manpower officials said.
A recent survey showed that promotion timing was the third most important thing that affected a Marine’s decision to re-enlist or not, according to a survey of those first-term Marines who re-enlisted in 2005, manpower officials said.
“While seasoning NCOs longer might provide more experienced leaders, there is a correlation on retention as well as a slowing of the promotions tempo,” said Lt. Col. Richard Long, a Marine Corps spokesman at Quantico.
Level the field. And here’s an idea that might lead some to brand Curcio as a heretic: de-emphasize special-duty assignments. Whoa. How’s that again?
Special-duty assignments, such as drill instructor, Marine Security Guard, recruiter, combat instructor and security forces, require Marines to leave their military occupational specialty for three years. In return, that Marine gets a competitive edge for promotion if he has a successful tour.
continued...