Did you know that the Army is converting to a new Semi-Centralized Promotions System? All promotable and future promotable Specialists, Corporals and Sergeants are affected. On 17 May 2010, the Army G1 approved the changes to the process for calculating promotion points for promotion to SGT and SSG for all Active Army and Reserve Soldiers. These changes will take effect for 1 June 2011 promotions. The biggest changes that Soldiers will see are the difference in how points are calculated for promotions to SGT and SSG, the inclusion of points for combat experience, and the removal of commander and board points. Another key area which will have a big impact on Soldiers is the requirement to complete entire correspondence courses in order to be awarded promotion points. This means sub-courses no longer count towards points.
The bottom line is that Soldiers’ promotion scores are established entirely based on what personnel and training databases reflect. Hence, it’s important that all Soldiers maintain the accuracy of their personnel (eMILPO) and their Army Training Requirements and Resources System (ATRRS) records. These are in fact, the only way data can be entered into the system to reflect an increase in promotion points.
Prepare for the change
"Semi-Centralized Promotions" dated MAR 2011
I highly recommend all Soldiers, regardless of promotable status to review their Enlisted Record Brief (ERB) to ensure their records are up to date to include but not limited to awards, civilian education, APFT & weapons data, overseas deployments and military education. Soldiers may conveniently access their ERB from AKO or see their unit S1 for a print out. If personnel information discrepancies are found, contact the unit S1 immediately. See the unit training NCO to update anything pertaining to military education. The only time Soldiers will need to see their unit S1 to update military education is if a Soldier has correspondence courses (full courses) completed prior to 22 December 2010, the unit S1 will have to input them in the system as ATRRS will only capture correspondence coursed completed after the abovementioned date. All Soldiers must bring in source documents for any updates they need so it would also be imperative for Soldiers to conduct a review of the Official Military Personnel File (OMPF) as well and have their S1 upload any documents missing.
A briefing on the New Semi-Centralized Promotions System and an information paper on how points are calculated are available for download at the bottom of this article. Please take care of yourself and your Soldiers by reviewing these important documents. If you have any questions about the new system, let us know by leaving a comment below or using the AskTop question submission form on the right side of your screen.
