thedrifter
08-26-07, 02:39 PM
Speeding up the ranks
Policy change means more lat-moves; faster promotions
By John Hoellwarth - jhoellwarth@militarytimes.com
Posted : September 03, 2007
For savvy junior Marines willing to switch jobs upon re-enlistment, there’s no reason to wait for promotion to corporal or sergeant.
As of Aug. 17, if you pick the right job to move into when you re-enlist, you’ll see lightning-fast promotion up the noncommissioned officer ranks, according to MarAdmin 496/07, which announces the policy change. No need for cutting scores in some military occupational specialties. Once you’ve met the minimum time-in-grade requirement for that rank, you move up.
The policy change also allows lateral movers to rate a promotion in their new military occupational specialty before graduating, or even attending, that job’s required training school, according to the message.
With this change, if you make a calculated lateral move into an MOS that promotes to the next rank at a lower cutting score than the one you now have, you’ll add a stripe faster than you can say “against all enemies foreign and domestic.”
“This is likely to encourage those qualified Marine corporals to consider lateral move opportunities,” Lt. Col. Robert Hagan, head of enlisted retention, wrote in an e-mail statement.
Details about what is driving the policy change remain unclear. While subject-matter experts responded to repeated interview requests with an e-mail statement, a spokeswoman for Manpower and Reserve Affairs would not make them available for interviews. Three Manpower officials — the MarAdmin’s point of contact, its author and Hagan — each declined to answer questions for the record when contacted by telephone.
Manpower officials did not respond by press time to follow-up questions regarding their statement.
No cutting scores needed
The MarAdmin lists 11 MOSs that, until now, were lat-move-only job fields available only to sergeants and up. Now, those historically understaffed fields are open to, say, lance corporals who can expect a free ride to three stripes for making the switch to fields in which the Corps needs people most. The MarAdmin says those jobs — which include legal services reporters and criminal investigators — are now considered “entry-level MOSs.”
The Corps does not publish cutting scores for the promotion of lance corporals and corporals in these jobs because, in an MOS where everyone comes in as a sergeant, there has historically been no need. So rather than coming up with those cutting scores now that the door is open to junior ranks, it makes more sense to provide a mechanism for promoting them automatically until they reach sergeant like everyone else.
Marines “who have not yet made that grade may be promoted non-competitively to that grade” provided they meet the minimum time at their current rank necessary for promotion, regardless of their composite score, according to the MarAdmin.
For lance corporals, that means spending only eight months wearing crossed rifles before a blood stripe can be awarded. For corporals, it takes one year in grade before a third stripe is possible.
Each of these ranks has a time-in-service requirement for promotion, too, but that’s a non-factor for Marines re-enlisting because anyone signing a second contract has already been in the Corps long enough for promotion through sergeant.
So if a corporal already meets the necessary time-in-grade upon raising his right hand, promotion to sergeant on the first day of the very next month is assured, according to the message.
The same thing goes for lance corporals with the required time-in-grade. They will be promoted to corporal automatically at the start of the first month after their re-enlistment is official, and again to sergeant exactly one year later.
Selective Re-enlistment Bonuses are offered to lateral movers in 10 of the 11 MOSs that now come with automatic promotion through sergeant, including explosive ordnance disposal and human intelligence, in which bonuses top out at $48,000 for first-term Marines, according to MarAdmin 349/07, which outlines the going rate for re-enlistments through fiscal 2008.
Not interested in defusing roadside bombs or interrogating prisoners? That’s understandable. But the list also includes automatic promotions and cash incentives for specializing in career retention, satellite communications, and morale, welfare and recreation, among other areas.
The MOS for nonappropriated fund audit technicians is the only one listed in the promotion policy change that offers automatic advancement but no bonus to lateral movers.
The insightful lat-mover
The other half of the policy change affects those who want to lat-move into a field that requires a cutting score. But there’s good news for them, too, if they do their homework.
If you decide to move from a job field with a high cutting score into one that promotes Marines at a lower score, you’ll get promoted almost as soon as you sign the paperwork. Before, you had to finish training for that intended job field before being considered for promotion in that field.
Lance corporals and corporals “who have re-enlisted and had a lateral move approved in conjunction with their re-enlistment ... are considered for promotion in their intended MOS provided the intended MOS was effective on or prior to the date of the monthly promotion authority,” the message states.
The message also contains a provision for Marines who, because of the policy, are promoted in an MOS they later fail to attain. Those Marines will be administratively reduced to the rank they held previously, according to the message.
Without the need to complete an MOS school, the savvy lateral mover can secure his immediate promotion by selecting a job in which his composite score already exceeds the cutoff. All it takes is an understanding of the promotion trends for corporal and sergeant in each MOS a Marine would consider for a lateral move.
Over the past year, lance corporals specializing in aviation communications systems have endured the most fierce competition for promotion with an average monthly cutting score of 1,773 for corporal, high enough to make sergeant in all but four MOSs Corps-wide, including its own.
Over the same August-to-August period, lance corporal musicians were promoted to the NCO ranks at an average cutting score of 1,278, the Corps’ lowest. Based on month-to-month data on the Manpower Web site, two specialties in the communications field also averaged scores in the 1,200s, five more in fields such as supply and flight crew averaged scores in the 1,300s and two dozen other MOSs promoted corporals with average composite scores in the 1,400s.
For lance corporals on the opposite end of the spectrum in MOSs such as aircraft inertial navigation systems, tactical systems operators and unmanned aerial vehicle avionics, where corporal promotions are scant, a lateral move into aviation supply, for example, would likely net two promotions in the time it would otherwise take to earn one.
The Corps’ easiest promotions to sergeant over the past year started in the low 1,500s with MOSs such as geographic intelligence specialists, combat camera, and members of the commandant’s own drum and bugle Corps. Corporals in slow-promoting MOSs such as airborne radio operator, which has the Corps’ highest average cutting score for sergeant at 1,867, can take advantage of the new promotion policy by moving into any one of 65 relatively fast-promoting specialties that pinned sergeant on Marines with composite scores less than 1,650 over the past year.
Ellie
Policy change means more lat-moves; faster promotions
By John Hoellwarth - jhoellwarth@militarytimes.com
Posted : September 03, 2007
For savvy junior Marines willing to switch jobs upon re-enlistment, there’s no reason to wait for promotion to corporal or sergeant.
As of Aug. 17, if you pick the right job to move into when you re-enlist, you’ll see lightning-fast promotion up the noncommissioned officer ranks, according to MarAdmin 496/07, which announces the policy change. No need for cutting scores in some military occupational specialties. Once you’ve met the minimum time-in-grade requirement for that rank, you move up.
The policy change also allows lateral movers to rate a promotion in their new military occupational specialty before graduating, or even attending, that job’s required training school, according to the message.
With this change, if you make a calculated lateral move into an MOS that promotes to the next rank at a lower cutting score than the one you now have, you’ll add a stripe faster than you can say “against all enemies foreign and domestic.”
“This is likely to encourage those qualified Marine corporals to consider lateral move opportunities,” Lt. Col. Robert Hagan, head of enlisted retention, wrote in an e-mail statement.
Details about what is driving the policy change remain unclear. While subject-matter experts responded to repeated interview requests with an e-mail statement, a spokeswoman for Manpower and Reserve Affairs would not make them available for interviews. Three Manpower officials — the MarAdmin’s point of contact, its author and Hagan — each declined to answer questions for the record when contacted by telephone.
Manpower officials did not respond by press time to follow-up questions regarding their statement.
No cutting scores needed
The MarAdmin lists 11 MOSs that, until now, were lat-move-only job fields available only to sergeants and up. Now, those historically understaffed fields are open to, say, lance corporals who can expect a free ride to three stripes for making the switch to fields in which the Corps needs people most. The MarAdmin says those jobs — which include legal services reporters and criminal investigators — are now considered “entry-level MOSs.”
The Corps does not publish cutting scores for the promotion of lance corporals and corporals in these jobs because, in an MOS where everyone comes in as a sergeant, there has historically been no need. So rather than coming up with those cutting scores now that the door is open to junior ranks, it makes more sense to provide a mechanism for promoting them automatically until they reach sergeant like everyone else.
Marines “who have not yet made that grade may be promoted non-competitively to that grade” provided they meet the minimum time at their current rank necessary for promotion, regardless of their composite score, according to the MarAdmin.
For lance corporals, that means spending only eight months wearing crossed rifles before a blood stripe can be awarded. For corporals, it takes one year in grade before a third stripe is possible.
Each of these ranks has a time-in-service requirement for promotion, too, but that’s a non-factor for Marines re-enlisting because anyone signing a second contract has already been in the Corps long enough for promotion through sergeant.
So if a corporal already meets the necessary time-in-grade upon raising his right hand, promotion to sergeant on the first day of the very next month is assured, according to the message.
The same thing goes for lance corporals with the required time-in-grade. They will be promoted to corporal automatically at the start of the first month after their re-enlistment is official, and again to sergeant exactly one year later.
Selective Re-enlistment Bonuses are offered to lateral movers in 10 of the 11 MOSs that now come with automatic promotion through sergeant, including explosive ordnance disposal and human intelligence, in which bonuses top out at $48,000 for first-term Marines, according to MarAdmin 349/07, which outlines the going rate for re-enlistments through fiscal 2008.
Not interested in defusing roadside bombs or interrogating prisoners? That’s understandable. But the list also includes automatic promotions and cash incentives for specializing in career retention, satellite communications, and morale, welfare and recreation, among other areas.
The MOS for nonappropriated fund audit technicians is the only one listed in the promotion policy change that offers automatic advancement but no bonus to lateral movers.
The insightful lat-mover
The other half of the policy change affects those who want to lat-move into a field that requires a cutting score. But there’s good news for them, too, if they do their homework.
If you decide to move from a job field with a high cutting score into one that promotes Marines at a lower score, you’ll get promoted almost as soon as you sign the paperwork. Before, you had to finish training for that intended job field before being considered for promotion in that field.
Lance corporals and corporals “who have re-enlisted and had a lateral move approved in conjunction with their re-enlistment ... are considered for promotion in their intended MOS provided the intended MOS was effective on or prior to the date of the monthly promotion authority,” the message states.
The message also contains a provision for Marines who, because of the policy, are promoted in an MOS they later fail to attain. Those Marines will be administratively reduced to the rank they held previously, according to the message.
Without the need to complete an MOS school, the savvy lateral mover can secure his immediate promotion by selecting a job in which his composite score already exceeds the cutoff. All it takes is an understanding of the promotion trends for corporal and sergeant in each MOS a Marine would consider for a lateral move.
Over the past year, lance corporals specializing in aviation communications systems have endured the most fierce competition for promotion with an average monthly cutting score of 1,773 for corporal, high enough to make sergeant in all but four MOSs Corps-wide, including its own.
Over the same August-to-August period, lance corporal musicians were promoted to the NCO ranks at an average cutting score of 1,278, the Corps’ lowest. Based on month-to-month data on the Manpower Web site, two specialties in the communications field also averaged scores in the 1,200s, five more in fields such as supply and flight crew averaged scores in the 1,300s and two dozen other MOSs promoted corporals with average composite scores in the 1,400s.
For lance corporals on the opposite end of the spectrum in MOSs such as aircraft inertial navigation systems, tactical systems operators and unmanned aerial vehicle avionics, where corporal promotions are scant, a lateral move into aviation supply, for example, would likely net two promotions in the time it would otherwise take to earn one.
The Corps’ easiest promotions to sergeant over the past year started in the low 1,500s with MOSs such as geographic intelligence specialists, combat camera, and members of the commandant’s own drum and bugle Corps. Corporals in slow-promoting MOSs such as airborne radio operator, which has the Corps’ highest average cutting score for sergeant at 1,867, can take advantage of the new promotion policy by moving into any one of 65 relatively fast-promoting specialties that pinned sergeant on Marines with composite scores less than 1,650 over the past year.
Ellie