Meritorious Promotion board?

[DobbinsBlythe]

Ok, So yesterday I found out David's going to be put up for one...

How do they work? Is it by nomination? Is there stuff he needs to study? This is a brand new area for me.

(Just when I THOUGHT I had a pretty good idea bout military life.. -- 21 years as a military brat, and 1.2 years as a military wife....)

Please help!

God Bless!

[kaboom1371]

hope this helps you.

http://www.marines.mil/marinelink/mc...7?opendocument

[DobbinsBlythe]

That's really good info! Thank you!

[kaboom1371]

anytime, Hope he does well and gets his promotion.

[thewookie]

He better study, and have a little luck in him because it's very competitive. It took me 4 times to finally win a meritorious Corporal board. Although I lost the meritorious promotion the weekend before I was due to get pinned due to a fight with the duty NCO in the barracks (you'll never win fighting the duty NCO.) So instead of getting pinned on the second, they gave it to me on the first, TIG/TIS.

[Artemis]

It also depends on how many people he is competeing with and how many slots are open. Current events is a big on boards from what I remember and that was just 3 years ago that I was on my last one. Tell him good luck and to maintain his bearing no matter what.

[Zulu 36]

Merit promotions boards are interesting, nerve racking, and still a bit fun. I stood two for meritorious corporal as the VMA-211 nominee and made it the second time. My boards were really big on Marine knowledge, history, and current events.

As I was in Vietnam for these boards, Marine knowledge was really hit hard. Although, I was told by my first sergeant that the difference between first and second place on both of my boards hinged on Marine Corps history questions.

There was only one corporal slot available for the whole air group both times (MAG-12) and we had an infantry company attached who was in on the board too.

My board consisted of all of the group's first sergeants and the group sergeant major. Tough room. My first sergeant had been a recon Marine, so he didn't toss me any softballs.

Every board is a little bit different in makeup and each unit runs theirs a little different than others. As mine was an air group, there were aviation types, grunts, motor transport (me), Remington raiders, and other MOSs standing up, so the questions had to be less MOS specific than if, say, the infantry company was allowed to run their own board.

[LeonardLawrence]

Great Information above.

Also appearance, bearing is a high priority. I went to a Meritorious board. I had a Corporal pull me aside after and ream me out. Best advice I ever received and I carried it through my career.

Some of the questions asked can be challenging to say the least. I was asked one and rather than a professional response, I immediately stated that "I have no idea, SSGT". It was a boot answer and it cost me an extra year to make Corporal as a result...all of us had the same questions right, but the military bearing took the prize.

Good luck to him! and you!

[DobbinsBlythe]

Ouch, lots of advice from experience! Thanks for all the info. I'll make sure he's all squared away. I have a good Marine in my household, so I'm sure he'll do fine. He made Corporal before his two year mark. (October 1 promotion, Feb 12 is his two-year)

He's always on the up and ups when it comes to what's going on in the world, but I'll make sure he pays special attention to the things he may have forgotten from Boot Camp.

Thanks again for EVERYTHING!

God Bless

[thewookie]

My problem was at the time I was Motor T, in a Grunt battalion and they didn't ask any Motor T questions so it took me some time. I was thinking about it a little more last night,,

1st time - lost at company level
2nd time - won company, lost at battalion
3rd time - won company, lost at battalion
4th time - won company, won battalion, lost regimental (still got the Bn. quota for Cpl)

And the rest is history, instead of meritorious Cpl., my stupidity resulted in a page 11 entry for being disrespectful to an NCO (the Duty) but, like I said I still got it the same month, only a day sooner.

As the others have mentioned bearing is critical, especially when he doesn't know the answer,,they told us to say "I do not know the answer to that question at this time, but I will find out and report back to you". They will stump him, they have so many possible questions to ask him, so his bearing, his PFT and rifle scores plus pro and cons, and what's already in his book is just as important as the actual ability to recite knowledge.

[DobbinsBlythe]

wow......

I'm excited about this. Since MOS school he's got either 4.8/4.8 or 4.7/4.7. Never anything below, he still has a first class PFT and his rifle scores are awesome. He just got his second expert award.

I'm going to study just so I can quiz him hahaha!

[DobbinsBlythe]

I just found out that there may not be a board.. and that he may have just been "nominated" or "recommended" to be promoted to Sgt. Evidentally you have to be "submitted" to have any sort of consideration promotion-wise.

Is that what it sounds like to you guys? He really doesn't know if there will be a board or not. Now I'm thoroughly confused... YAY!

[thewookie]

Really anything is possible, if the Battalion or unit has a number of quotas for Sergeant and they don't want to, or can't run a board then the command has every right to pin him if he's been "nominated". Or he could have been nominated at the company level but he still has to go to a Battalion board? Semper Gumby

[DobbinsBlythe]

I don't think he's really assigned to any BN. Here at CENTCOM everything is joint.. essentially he does all his paperwork through MARCENT, but his shop supervisor is an AF SSgt. His shop senior NCO is an AF MSgt... and essentially is "CO" is an Army O-6?

It's so confusing to not really be around the fleet. It's nice to live here.. kinda, but the lack of structure around this base boggles my mind.

[thewookie]

Well, if whatever unit he's with has Sgt quotas then he might just get pinned without a board. Good luck