Points for weapons qualification, initially impacted by a data feed issue, now require many units to go into the service’s training management system and edit past entries. The Army is blaming other problems on users, though. The Army has resolved many of these complications, the page claims. Its “known issues” page detains a series of data errors that resulted in promotion point shortfalls - fitness tests, correspondence courses, and graduation honors at military schools initially incorrectly fed into the new promotion points system. The shortfall was so widespread that the service issued a military personnel message detailing workaround instructions. 23 town hall event with platform developers. Users in social media forums such as Army Reddit reported seeing their points drop after the platform’s launch, and others asked about them in a Feb. More nebulous is the impact of the service’s new human resources platform, the Integrated Personnel and Pay System-Army, which launched Army-wide in January. “This is normal and healthy for sustaining and growing a professional NCO Corps.” At first, this wasn’t an issue, a former top human resources official told Army Times last year - the service expanded its staff sergeant ranks in recent years, meaning there were enough jobs to avoid a demographic glut backing up promotions.īut the combination of reduced recruiting and “retaining mid-grade NCOs does limit, to a degree, the mid-grade promotion demand for certain ,” acknowledged Payton, who argued high retention rates allow the service to avoid losing training investments it’s made on experienced soldiers. The service’s reliance on retention to maintain its end strength in the face of abysmal recruiting numbers means fewer mid-career positions are open, too. The service recently renewed the policy exception, according to a memorandum obtained by Army Times. That move expanded the pool of eligible troops, putting downward pressure on the selection rates. Officials expanded the education exception, which permanently applies to pregnant and deployed soldiers, to include all enlisted troops beginning January 2021.

One policy impacting promotion rates - a temporary exception to a policy allowing otherwise-eligible enlisted soldiers to receive temporary promotions before completing their required professional military education - “ensured the highest quality Soldier remained eligible for promotion” in the wake of backlogs at schools caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and a transition to a train-before-selection model, Payton said. He confirmed the accuracy of Army Times’ data analysis, but cautioned that the data “doesn’t project what the Army will do with future promotions.” Joseph Payton answered questions from Army Times about the falling rates and why they were occurring. Why are Army promotion rates low in 2023?Ī combination of policy decisions, pressure to keep the ranks filled during a recruiting crisis and difficulties with data transfers in the Army’s new human resources platform have made the math frustrating for junior troops in 2023.Īrmy personnel directorate spokesperson Lt. It’s a math problem, and one designed to suit the service’s needs.

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