Chandler: Keep best soldiers, lose the rest - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

Chandler: Keep best soldiers, lose the rest

A warning order for all terminal sergeants, troublemakers, deadwood soldiers and dirtbags — your days in uniform are numbered. The Army in April begins a five-year cut of 49,000 soldiers, and the intent is clear: Keep the best and brightest, and kick out those with poor performance and habitual misconduct.

“There is absolutely no gray area in that. If you’re not among the best and brightest, you’re at risk,” Sergeant Major of the Army Raymond Chandler told Army Times. “We want to retain the professional soldier. They are persons of character, commitment and competence. If you’re missing any one of those three, you’re not the professional and we don’t want you to stay in the service.”

Chandler’s commitment to purge undesirables from the ranks is surpassed only by his determination to keep quality soldiers in uniform.

The Army’s top enlisted leader said he learned much from the salami-slice cuts in the mid-1990s, in which the Army cut about 100,000 soldiers in one year. The good were among the bad and ugly in that cut, and the service paid the price.

“I think we learned a lot of lessons from that,” Chandler said. “A lot of the cream of the crop left. We don’t want that.”

A Qualitative Service Program will be key to weeding out the unwanted. It will screen noncommissioned officers for involuntary early separation from active duty beginning in April. Three types of boards will meet to evaluate soldiers to determine if the Army wants to keep them:

• Over-Strength Qualitative Service Program Board: This board will look at NCOs in ranks of staff sergeant and above in military occupational specialties and skill levels whose 12-month operating strength projections are above 100 percent, according to Human Resources Command. Staff sergeants chosen to leave the Army may ask for reclassification into a shortage MOS, but they must ask for it and be approved within 30 days.

• Qualitative Management Program Board: This board will meet to look at senior NCOs in paygrades E-7 through E-9 to involuntarily separate those who fall short in performance, conduct or potential for moving up in the ranks. In short, past performance is an indicator of future potential.

• Promotion Stagnation Qualitative Service Program Board: This board will consider NCOs who are staff sergeants and above in military occupational specialties in which promotion pin-on rates take longer than the Army average. Staff sergeants selected to leave the Army may request a switch into a shortage MOS.

Force-trimming tools

Officials also will take a hard look at soldiers nearing high-year tenure.

“If you’re a sergeant with 15 years in the Army, what’s going on?” Chandler said. “You have to ask the question, ‘What have you been doing for 10 years?’ From my perspective, you’re not doing that much. If you’re hitting your tenure marks, you’re going to leave the service. Why would we want to retain someone who has literally been left behind by their peers?”

Tenure rules, called retention control points, are 20 years for staff sergeant, 15 years for promotable sergeant, 13 years for sergeant and 12 years for corporal and specialist.

The Army in September also issued Army Directive 2011-17, which requires officers, warrants and senior enlisted soldiers to report any criminal conviction received after March 1, 2008. Such self-reporting is not a new rule, but one that has renewed focus.

Unit commanders are required to forward civil conviction reports with statements of extenuation or mitigation to the Special Court-Martial Convening Authority. That authority will recommend to the General Court-Martial Convening Authority whether to file the conviction as “unfavorable information” in the soldier’s official personnel file. If entered as such, the directive allows commanders to consider the conviction “for all official purposes to include, but not limited to, evaluation reports, assignments, selection for schools, awards, initiation of separation, suspension of security clearance, etc.”

The Army has a number of additional tools it could use to trim the force. These include decreasing the recruiting mission, increasing quality marks, adjusting promotion selection rates and allowing soldiers to separate or retire early. Such tools may soon get much use.

Many lawmakers and defense analysts believe Army cuts could grow to 90,000 soldiers as the Defense Department makes big budget cuts in coming years.

In the meantime, Chandler said he prefers to keep those tools in the toolbox and instead let professional attrition eliminate people that “frankly should not be in the Army anymore.”

Army data shows that the current cuts can be made through professional attrition.

The service cut 73,889 soldiers from fiscal 2005 through 2010 for poor performance and misconduct. In comparison, fewer than 1,200 were forced out as a result of reductions in force or budgetary constraints.

“If you’re not performing satisfactorily, if you’re not doing your job or you’re a person that routinely gets in trouble, you’re not on the Army team,” Chandler said. “You’re not a professional soldier. We can give you a way to become a professional. We can do that through training and motivation. But if you’re just unwilling to do that, then you don’t get to be on the Army team.

“Although some people may think that that’s harsh, it’s reality.”

Protecting your career

Professional character, commitment and competence will protect your career from forthcoming cuts, no matter how deep they go, Chandler said.

And these intangibles become evident when you put on your dog tags.

“When I go someplace and I talk to soldiers, I ask how many of them have their dog tags on,” he said. “Inevitably, there’s going to be some folks that don’t wear their dog tags. It’s something so small, most people would think is insignificant, but if you look at it from the perspective of a person of character, I’m going to do what I’m supposed to even when no one’s looking. I’m committed.

“Maybe it’s not the dog tag. Maybe it’s how you wear the uniform,” Chandler said. “Maybe it’s what you do in your off-duty conduct. They’re all the same thing. Do what you’re supposed to, even when no one’s looking. That’s the character piece. The Army says this is the standard. Just do the standard. That’s the commitment. I’m willing to do what the Army asks. I do my job and I do it well.”

But simply meeting expectations is not enough. Chandler said the Army is looking to retain those who exceed expectations. Specifically, being a part of tomorrow’s Army will require a willingness to stretch beyond one’s comfort zone in order to grow as a competent soldier and leader.

Chandler likened this to the brass ring on a merry-go-round.

“You’re on the horse, going around in circles. And you want to get that brass ring because you’re going to get a prize,” he said. “You can’t just go by and pick it off. You have to extend yourself, you have to reach. And usually, the reach is a little bit more than you’re comfortable with.”

That reach will require some to get civilian education.

Others may have to work a little harder or stay a little later. It will require some to excel at a duty assignment they didn’t want. It is never content with status quo or “good enough.” It demands every soldier overcome weaknesses and place service before self.

“If you’re not going to reach further than you’re comfortable with, you’re probably not going to get that brass ring,” Chandler said. “And therefore, you’re not going to get the prize.”