Cutoff scores issued Wednesday Dec. 23 for the Regular Army authorize 1,835 promotions to sergeant and staff sergeant Jan. 1, which will kick off the new select-train-educate-promote, or STEP, policy changes for the noncommissioned officer corps.
Under the new procedures, which follow a recent redesign of the Promotion Point Worksheet, specialists must be graduates of the Basic Leader Course (previously called the Warrior Leader Course) to pin on to sergeant, and sergeants the Advanced Leader Course to pin on to staff sergeant.
Upcoming changes to the senior NCO promotion process will require completion of the Senior Leader Course and Master Leader Course to pin on to sergeant first class and master sergeant respectively.
The January promotion plan calls for 732 advancements to sergeant, and 1,103 to staff sergeant. The monthly total of 1,835 is one of the smallest in recent years.
The promotions will go to soldiers in a group of 9,023 promotable specialists and corporals, and 8,176 promotable sergeants.
There would be additional promotions to both ranks if more soldiers in chronically short-handed specialties called STAR MOSs were board and on the service-wide selection lists for E-5 and E-6.
As of late December, there are 25 STAR MOSs each for sergeants and staff sergeants.
The shortages occur in a cross-section of engineer, field artillery, air defense, military intelligence, public affairs, medical, signal and logistics MOSs.
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