Serious Questions About Meritorious Promotions!

[Marcusthemarine]

I know that there are some great Officers, Staff NCOs or NCOs out there that can help me with this. What are some of the Major things that you look for when you are looking to promote a select Marine from Corporal to Sergeant? What are some of the minor criteria? Major criteria? Helpful little tidbits when competition is tight? Thank you for your assistance in advance.

[Echo5November]

Rifle score, pft, amount of mci's completed, pro-con marks, awards, cert coms, letters of appreciation. Majority of the time during a board it starts with everyone competing shows up for a pft, followed by a uniform inspection of the specified uniform of the board, and then the interview consisting of knowledge questions. Read up on your BST, and your shop should have a binder laying around somewhere full of knowledge questions. Know your acronyms (smeac, bamcis, etc.), the 14 leadership qualities (JJDIDTIEBUCKLE) Know the colors on a map (that one always seems to be thrown in). They'll throw in a question to test your bearing (like "what is your spleen and where is it located?", or "how many holes are in an MRE cracker?"). They'll probably even ask you why you think you deserve to win the board. Be honest, and above all, be confident. I've seen Marines walk away with a meritorious promotion and didn't answer the most questions, or have the highest pft. Its because they convinced the members of the board that they would make the best NCO of that rank. Good luck.

[STA0311]

I agree with all of that, however I must add...KNOW YOUR JOB! We had a lot of Security Forces guys get Sergeant in 2 years because they were good at uniforms and PFT's, however once they got in the field, PFC's were kicking them in the ass and telling them how to set up a defensive position which is just unsat for a sergeant. Be an all around good Marine especially when it comes to the basics!
SEMPER

[Echo5November]

and remember, if you do win, don't let it go to your head. You're liable to get chin checked by some salty lance corporal with 47 NJPs. I couldn't stand meritorious NCOs who had less than 3 years under their belt. Pick your rank up with time and earn it the real way. You'll be alot more respected and it teaches you to be a better leader

[MetalManiac]

and remember, if you do win, don't let it go to your head. You're liable to get chin checked by some salty lance corporal with 47 NJPs. I couldn't stand meritorious NCOs who had less than 3 years under their belt. Pick your rank up with time and earn it the real way. You'll be alot more respected and it teaches you to be a better leader

so meritorioud promotions are not the real way of getting promoted? I would have to disagree. I feel for you when you see Marines getting promoted too quickly, that is his unit's responsibility, to ensure that even before he goes on the board, that he is ready to assume the next rank. A lot of Marines get wrongfully "hooked up" by their peers to attend these boards, that is not only detrimental to the Marine, but the unit as well. A Marine's real rank is determined by the knowledge in his head and how he displays the most important characteristic of any Marine, Leadership.

Besides PFT, MCI's, rifle score and awards, knowledge of your MOS and things that you have done while in your MOS that would be considered "above and beyond" should be considered the most important things board members look at during the meritorious promotion process.

In fact, I really hate the "knowledge questions" they ask, who gives a **** if you know what SMEAC means if you dont know how to apply it? Same with other acronyms. Weapons systems should be a huge factor as well, take the board out to the range and see how well they handle their T/O weapons, if theyre bewildered and incompatent, that says a lot about their unit, they have little to no training with weapons that they are assigned to.

Man I would make a great Btry Gy

[STA0311]

I think that meritorious is a "Real" promotion too. My old roommate from Active Duty was meritorious Cpl, and Sgt. He is a good Marine that knows his stuff and leads from the front. Now as a SSgt he is an awesome SNCO, and that is coming from his junior Marines. He sticks up for them, the way his SNCO's did for him! Dont be a person who sticks your collars out...you WILL get chin checked!

[Marcusthemarine]

My issue is not being to weight heavy in the head, or the collar, nor is it being chin checked by some sore loser of a Lance Corporal. My first set of pros and cons as a Lance were 3.9, 4.1 and I hadn't even been administratively dealt with. For the last 4 semi annuals, I haven't gotten anything lower than 4.5 in both catagories. To me, its all about learning from your mistakes, and understanding what it means to uphold the tradition of leadership and morals, and subsequently (ofcourse) mastering and discharging the duties of the grade to which you want to be appointed.

Call me apthetic, but I could give two s**ts what some salty Lance has to say about my rank and the way I pick it up, simply because I have been in the s**t hole myself. I spent 24 painstaking months as a Lance Corporal, which is longer than SOME Marines spend in Lance Corporal and Corporal combined. If I could dig my way out of it, and he couldn't, that sounds to me like a personal problem. Because of my mistakes as a Lance Corporal, I've gone through my entire career, watching my friends, as well as enemies in the same rank pick up before I did. Yeah, its not fair, but if you want to be any kind of leader, you need to accept the Marine Corps and all of it's components for what they are, and not what you WANT them to be. Thats just my view on the whole "watch your collars" bit.

Anyhow...here are my stats for the most part.

- Expert rifle
- 265 PFT
- Sergeants PME completed
- Corporals Course Completed
- 20 MCIs completed
-27 College courses completed
- 21 Local Schools Completed
- 3 Certificates of Appreciation
- 1 Meritorious Mast
- 1 Certificate of Commendation
- 1 Letter of Appreciation
- 1 Good Cookie
- 100 Bonus Recruiting Points

These are just the highlights of what I'm looking at. Thank you to everyone who has given advice on these boards thus far.

[STA0311]

IF those are your stats, the thing that I would say work on is the PFT. 265 is first class, but it sure as hell isnt a good first class. The other point that I will make is the fact that YOU asked US for advice. We gave you EXPERIENCE advise, and you are getting ****y here complaining about being a 24 month Lance Corporal. MAYBE its your attitude that has prevented you from promotion.

[Marine84]

HA! You think 24 months is a long time as a LCPL - you should try ALL but 6 months of a 4 year hitch!

When I went through in 84 - I didn't have even one little black scratch in my SRB - PFTs, MCIs, the whole 9 yards - and a male LCPL (that had written hundreds of dollars in bad checks AND spent 6 months in the brig for doing it)beat me to a meritorious promotion. I couldn't even pick CPL up with time in because "there was no room". Couldn't tell you how that happened......................Did get 2 or 3 Maritorious Masts out of them but that was it.

I say get it any way you can! Mo stripes, mo money!

[Marcusthemarine]

Tushe. Maybe it is. However, my impulse and the impulse of so many Marines who fall into that rut of being stuck at one rank (particularly a lower one) is to give up and f**k everything Marine Corps. My attitude and willingness to fight that impulse is the only thing that has kept me afloat long enough to surpass that notion. My feelings are simply that there are two types of Marines in that situation. Marines who blame themselves for they're misfortune and correct the problem, and Marines who blame the Marine Corps for they're misfortune and lash out at authority. I've pretty much made a name for myself (mostly as an mean person) for not having much sympathy for the latter, as well as not accepting such behavior from myself.

I wouldn't call it getting s****y, as much as I'd call it, expressing my distaste with salty Marines who CHOSE to be salty whether than doing what the Marine Corps expected of them. That isn't to say that I condone boot sergeants with no direction in they're jobs or leadership, but it is my understanding that time, and experience won't a good Marine make, just like MCIs and PFTs won't a good Marine make. We're that the case, than the rank system would be a thing of the past. Call it what you wanna, but it is what it is. Unless you are a Sergeant or higher, a Sergeant is a Sergeant. Experience, time in grade, and promotion means are something that Marines at the Lance Corporal or even the Corporal level needn't be concerned with, no matter HOW salty you are.

Again, thank you for your comments and advice.

[STA0311]

Rank isnt ALWAYS everything either. I dont know what you MOS is, but in the 03 Field you are respected upon your proving your abilities. Case in point, when I got into the Scout Sniper Platoon, I had a junior Marine as my Team Leader...NOT because I was a bad NCO, but rather because he was already a proven operator and I wasn't. With time, that came to be my Team and due to the mutual respect we had for each other, there was no Team Leader...there was a Team in our eyes. You need to be that, a Marine that stands up for his Marines mistakes and either corrects or protects them which ever the situation may call for. Salty Marines arent better Marines, they have just seen more, and may have seen things that you dont yet understand. Good leaders are the ones who still lead even when they think no one is watching...but remember, there is ALWAYS someone watching. You are on a good path...good record (personally I think your PFT is low) but that is coming from a 295 PLATOON average that I am used to. Don't get ****ed at the Corps and especially don't get ****ed at yourself for your 24 months. It will come. I almost made it that long as a Lance myself. Stay motivated and you will find the right path...SEMPER

[Marine84]

First off pup - fill out your profile so we know who the hell we're talking to.

Some of you kids are just a little too gung ho for your own good. What kind of preconceived notion do you have of what a NCO or SNCO is responsible for?

[MetalManiac]

He seems to have a good grip on USMC reality, he will do fine.

[yellowwing]

Like everything else in the United States, its how you stack up against the competition. You got good paper reflecting performance. Your Bros got good paper reflecting performance. Each unit is sending their best. No SNCO is going to send up a dirt bag that will embarrass them.

Don't be bashful, ask your SNCOs to put your feet to the coals to prepare. They'd love the challenge as much as you.

But then that moment will come when you are standing tall before the board under fire. Your confidence, bearing and command presence will be the deciding factor.

SERGEANT MAJOR LELAND W. HATFIELD, currently BN Sgt Maj of the Third Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion was previously promoted to Lance Corporal (Meritoriously) on June 2, 1982, Corporal (Meritoriously) on December 2, 1982, and Sergeant (Meritoriously) on February 2, 1984.

Now he is leading our Marines out in the wild west of the fartherest reaches of Al Anbar.

Those Meritorious Promotions Boards that he was facing were investing in him and in the future of the Marine Corps. They made a good choice.

You got to do everything you can to prepare your ass, heart and mind to be a good investment to Our Beloved Corps. You got to convince our senior leadership, that have at least 60 years combined experience, that you got the **** to pack the gear.

Don't embarrass your teammates, your Platoon Sgt, or your LT.

[Echo5November]

damn killer, 24 months as a lance corporal. Talk to grunts or MPs who have cutting scores of 1680-1700+ to pick up corporal. 24 months is a fraction what they go through. Especially the grunts. I had a friend who picked up Corporal the day the reenlisted (with an 1800 even). what MOS are you? Rank comes with time. There are great meritorious Marines out there. And yes there are s***bird salty Lance Corporals, but whats on your collar doesn't define or illuminate what kind of Marine you are at heart. If you really want that promotion, you'll quit worrying about what everyone in this forum says, and you'll reach out and take the board. Thats what we do. Adapt, Improvise, and Overcome. Go wreck the competition. Get Some Cpl. Oohrah