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Enlisted redlegs: take charge of your career - enlisted personnel management system - Statistical Data Included

FA Journal - May 1, 2002

Transformation is occurring across the full spectrum of Army systems. Our active duty enlisted personnel management system (EPMS) is undergoing changes to move forward with advances in technology and information management. These changes will increase the soldier's control over his career, make the personnel system more responsive to personal preferences and increase overall family stability.

Enlisted personnel management's first priority is to meet Army readiness requirements--man warfighting units to 100 percent of authorizations. The Army relies on enlisted soldiers, particularly combat arms, to offset shortages in officer manning and shortfalls in other military occupational specialties (MOS).

Our second priority is to fulfill the soldier's personal assignment preferences. This is a significant change from the past when personal preference was the third or fourth consideration. However, this change in priority places more responsibility on the soldier to manage his professional development. More so than ever, the soldier must understand the requirements for development and success in his MOS. Inherent, also, is the greater responsibility of his senior leaders and mentors to understand his professional development needs and advise him on career options.

This article provides information for soldiers and leaders on the Field Artillery's enlisted force professional development requirements and guidelines.

How to Succeed. The skills and experiences that enable a young sergeant (SGT) to become a competent platoon sergeant (PSG) are the result of that NCO 's commitment to becoming a subject matter expert (SME) in his field, both inside and outside his MOS, and being proactive in his career assignments. Developing and sustaining individual competence is a result of Army schools, unit training and exercises, and personal learning by the soldier.

Personal learning or lifetime learning is a central tenet of the Army's personnel transformation. New information technologies provide greater opportunities for self-education through distance learning programs. Some examples are video teleconference classes, individual CD ROM interactive training, web-based individual learning and correspondence programs. Soldiers use computers to access most of these distance learning programs.

While these programs won't replace resident training in the Army schools or unit exercises, they will help the soldier in sustainment training or special skills qualification. Leaders must understand this shift and provide soldiers the opportunities to maximize their use of these developmental programs.

The Total Army Personnel Command (PERSCOM) in Alexandria, Virginia, and branch proponents have websites that provide substantial career development information for enlisted soldiers. See Figure 1 for the websites for Field Artillerymen and a brief explanation of what's available on each.

To use many of the Army systems listed in Figure 1, the soldier must have an Army Knowledge Online (AKO) account. For example, soldiers may check their individual military records online through the AKO web portal before promotion boards.

Soldiers also must understand the sequence and types of professional development options in their MOS and how these fit into the progression of all the Field Artillery MOS. The Field Artillery is structured with 87 percent of its authorizations in tables of organization and equipment (TOEs) in warfighting units with the remaining 13 percent in tables of distribution and allowances (TDAs) in support units and organizations. Thus, most of a soldier's Field Artillery career will be spent in tactical units.

The majority of the TDA positions available for Field Artillery soldiers are at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and include jobs such as instructor, drill sergeant and other positions in the Field Artillery School and Center. The other primary TDA assignments for FA soldiers are recruiting positions, Active Component! Reserve Component (AC/RC) positions, Combat Training Center (CTC) observers/controllers (O/Cs) and ROTC positions.

The next consideration in career planning is overseas service. Ten years ago, nearly 50 percent of the Field Artillery was positioned overseas. Today, that percentage is about 18 percent. Soldiers today have a slightly greater probability of serving in an unaccompanied short tour (Korea) than of serving in an overseas long tour.

The following sections provide a description of the key agencies and the chain of command--plus the individual soldier--who are involved in determining Field Artillery enlisted professional development and assignments.

Field Artillery Proponency Office (FAPO). The Chief of Field Artillery sets the professional development standards for all Field Artillery soldiers. The action office is FAPO, which "coordinates the formulation and implementation of personnel management issues" and advises and assists in enlisted career management.

FAPO provides a wealth of information at its website (Figure 1). This includes detailed descriptions of each FAMOS and career maps with required institutional training duty positions to be held and for what lengths of time, and special skill training and assignments recommended by rank. See the sample career map for 13B Cannon Crewmember in Figure 2.

While there is no one career pathway, the principal development objective is for every soldier to serve at least 24 months in defined leadership positions as a staff sergeant (SSG), sergeant first class (SFC) and master sergeant (MSG). At the Field Artillery Command Sergeants Major (CSM) Conference in September 2000, the CSMs recommended that career maps be used as the standard for promotion boards. These career maps, such as the one in Figure 2, will be published in DA Pam 600-25, US Army Noncommissioned Officer's Guide, which is expected to be released in 2003.

Field Artillery Branch, PERSCOM. This agency plays a major role in the progression of a soldier. In the course of managing Army readiness requirements and soldier development, the FA Branch manages soldiers from their entrance on active duty through their retirement.

FA Branch recommends accession requirements and monetary incentives for enlisting soldiers as well as distributes advanced individual training (AlT) graduates throughout the world. In order to retain quality soldiers and maintain proper strength levels, the FA Branch advises PERSCOM on retention issues, such as reclassification requests and reenlistment monetary incentives.

The branch objective is to place all soldiers in assignments that will allow them to meet branch professional development requirements and advance through the NCO ranks in their MOS.

PERSCOM implemented an online interactive information system in March. The Assignment Satisfaction Key (ASK) allows soldiers to input preferences and get information from the Total Army Personnel Database (TAPDB). Soldiers also may view current assignment instructions through ASK. In April, PERSCQM mailed a brochure explaining ASK to all units.

ASK supports enlisted personnel volunteering for assignments, by grade and MOS, based on the needs of the Army or the soldier's preference. It allows soldiers to view and update information from home or the office via the Internet.

Using ASK, the soldier can select three continental United States (CONUS) and three outside CONUS (OCONUS) assignment preferences (assignment volunteer requests) that FA Branch will consider when making assignments.

PERSCOM views a service member's preferences as "If I must be reassigned, these are the locations I prefer." While a service member who volunteers for reassignment is viewed as "I would like to be reassigned now to one of these locations." These statements apply when the soldier updates his special duty preferences and volunteer information online.

An advantage to ASK is it allows the service member to update his personal contact information online, such as home address, home and duty phone numbers and home or military email addresses.

ASK is linked to an automated Soldier Assignment Module (SAM) that PERSCOM also implemented in March. SAM automatically links ASK information to assignment processing. FA Branch no longer must track "DA Form 4187, Personnel Action" preference requests manually. SAM provides a list of eligible soldiers for a given assignment. Volunteers, if qualified, are considered for the assignment before non-volunteers.

SAM applies current assignment policies, such as time-on-station guidance (36 to 48 months), remaining time-in-service (TIS) requirements and MOS and grade matches. This maintains discipline in the assignment system, which means a soldier who volunteers for an assignment will not move early unless Army readiness requires him to. A second quality control measure is that the FA Branch sergeant major (SGM) reviews every soldier's assignment to ensure he's not reassigned too soon.

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