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Flaws in records of senior NCOs can end careers

The Army will soon start screening senior NCOs with the aim of kicking out those with problem records.

All sergeants first class and above with 20 or more years of active service will be subject to the reviews, which will target members of the Regular Army and the Army Reserve component of the Active Guard and Reserve program.

Members whose records document problems with conduct, morality, performance or professionalism could be separated under the new Qualitative Management Program (QMP), approved July 23 by Thomas R. Lamont, assistant secretary of the Army for manpower and reserve affairs. The active component has about 41,000 sergeants first class, 12,000 master sergeants and 3,700 sergeants major, but officials did not say how many of those are retirement-eligible and also subject to review under QMP.

Under the program, a soldier’s record will be flagged if one of the following documents is received by Human Resources Command (HRC) for filing in a soldier’s Official Military Personnel File:

• General officer letter or memorandum of reprimand.

• Conviction by courts-martial or Article 15.

• NCO Evaluation Report documenting a relief for cause action.

• A rating of 4 (fair) or 5 (poor) in the senior rater performance and potential blocks of the NCO evaluation report.

• An Academic Evaluation Report indicating a soldier has failed an NCO Education System course.

When HRC receives one of the documents, the command will notify the soldier that he will be considered for separation from service by a centralized promotion board.

The move to boot out senior NCOs with such records comes as the Army is tightening standards for who can stay and in what numbers. Since the active Army recently hit its end-strength goal of 547,000 soldiers, it has suspended re-enlistment bonuses. The service also had cut its recruiting goal of 78,000 to 65,000, but recently was authorized to add 22,000 soldiers to help meet the demands of fighting two wars. The Army also has stopped allowing enlistment of recruits who needed waivers for past misconduct, such as criminal activity or drug use.

The new policy is designed to build the force’s quality, Lamont said in a July 27 directive to field commands, “to ensure senior NCOs serve in a manner consistent with good order and discipline, and that those serving in a position of authority perform in an exemplary manner.”

“Only senior NCOs who consistently maintain high standards of performance, efficiency, morality and professionalism are permitted to continue to serve on active duty,” the directive states.

While the QMP is designed to separate NCOs who don’t meet standards for quality, commanders still have a responsibility “to take appropriate action against senior NCOs who clearly, in the best interest of the Army, do not meet retention standards for continued service,” according to Lamont’s implementing instructions.

When NCOs’ records are flagged, they may defend themselves by sending the promotion board a rebuttal or mitigating information such as a written statement or supporting documents.

This will allow the board members to base their recommendation for retention or denial of continued service on soldiers’ input as well as on information in their personnel files.

A similar rebuttal process is available to senior officers who are found to have derogatory information in their file during the pre-screen for general officer promotion boards.

NCOs who are selected to leave the service can appeal the decision based on material error, newly discovered evidence or the removal of applicable documents from the file, according to the directive establishing the program.

Documents can be removed from a file only through a formal review process, such as an NCO evaluation report appeal or a ruling from the Army Board for Correction of Military Records.

Appeals will be considered by QMP appeals boards, to be convened in conjunction with senior NCO promotion boards. When soldiers are notified they may have to leave the Army, they will be given information about the appeals process.

The director of military personnel management, a two-star general in the Office of the G-1, is the final authority for deciding appeals.

NCOs have an option besides the review-and-appeal process: They may request voluntary retirement. They must submit the request before the director of military personnel management approves the selection board’s results.

Soldiers whose files have been flagged and who choose not to apply for retirement will be involuntarily discharged on the first day of the seventh month following the month the QMP results were approved.

As the program gets started, only documents that have been placed in a soldier’s file since his last centralized promotion board will trigger QMP processing.

The review will not delve into events that occurred early in a soldier’s career or before his last promotion.

Starting at the top

The new program will begin with a review of the personnel files of command sergeants major and sergeants major who have 20 or more years of service and have not been approved for retirement.

The intent of the screening is to identify E-9s who have received one of the designated documents while in their current rank, according to an Army personnel official familiar with the new policy.

Soldiers who have such a document in their file will be notified through their chain of command that they are subject to being forced to leave the service. They will be reviewed for retention by the fiscal 2010 master sergeant boards that convene Oct. 14 in Indianapolis for the Regular Army and St. Louis for the Active Guard and Reserve.

The same system will be used to review retirement-eligible first sergeants and master sergeants. Soldiers who have received one of the five specified documents as an E-8 will be screened for continued service by the fiscal 2010 sergeant first class boards that convene Feb. 2 for the Regular Army and the Active Guard and Reserve.

Retirement-eligible sergeants first class who have received one of the designated documents while in their current rank will be screened by the fiscal 2010 Regular Army sergeants major board that convenes April 21, or the Active Guard and Reserve E-7 board that convenes May 4.

The incremental approach to the program will allow the Army to screen NCO files for adverse behavior and performance documents issued while in one’s current rank and then hold officers to Army standards from that point forward, according to one senior official.

After this initial screening, QMP proceedings routinely will be initiated when one of the designated documents is introduced into a soldier’s official file.

A resumption

QMP existed before the current wars, and was suspended in 2003 after the partial mobilization of the reserves for the war on terrorism and the launching of a force expansion that added nearly 67,000 soldiers over the following six years.

Before they were suspended, QMP reviews were conducted annually for all staff sergeants and above in conjunction with senior NCO promotion and school selection boards. Because of the pressure to increase the size of the force and support the war effort, Army leaders not only suspended QMP, but also eased recruiting standards, and sharply increased promotion and retention opportunities and incentives.

The previous QMP process was an especially heavy burden on boards because it involved the preparation and review of many thousands of files, sometimes with little to show for the effort. For example, in 2002, the last year the Army conducted a QMP review, promotion and school selection boards screened 60,000 files and identified 78 soldiers for possible denial of service.

Boards were never assigned quotas for this program, nor will they be under the new system.

Find out more

The Qualitative Management Program is described in a directive issued July 27 as All-Army Activities Message (ALARACT) No. 203/2009.