Re: [OT] US Army NCO promotions, was Personal hoody-hoo

All of the responsibilities, none of the extra pay.  Also, if a unit
that has corporals gets an influx of Sergeants, they can take the
"Corporal" away without so much as a thank-you because they no longer
need someone to "play" NCO.

Probably not much of a problem in MOS's that lack NCO's.  But in MOS's
that have have low enlisted retention for lower enlisted but high
retention for NCO's... it's pretty common for Specialists to see
corporal stripes repeatedly while waiting for a PLDC slot.  (PLDC =
Primary Leadership Development Course:	After the "board" that Mr.
Atkinson attended, it's the "next step" in prerequisites before getting
promoted to Sgt.)

--Flak

On Wed, 2002-09-11 at 19:42, John Atkinson wrote:
 
> Once a soldier has been the board he is said to be in
> "promotable status".	This means he is definitely
> viewed as a sergeant-in-training, and to this end is
> often pinned (it's not a real promotion since you
> don't make any more money) corporal, which fits you in
> on the bottom of the NCO rungs allowing you to pull
> duties which require an NCO to supervise, such as CQ. 
> This gem of a duty involves sitting up for 24 hours on
> the bottom floor of the barracks handling emergencies.
>  Hence the reference to the duty roster.  A corporal
> is an ersatz sergeant.
-- 

--Flak Magnet
Hive Fleet Jaegernaught
"I hate quotations."
		-- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Check out this Online gamer community:
      www.tabletop-battlezone.com
Forums, articles, mini-pics, other stuff...