The Army will continue to allow noncommissioned officers to be promoted before attending their respective courses for that rank, according to a service memo reviewed by Military.com. The policy was originally changed a year ago and was set to expire at the end of this year.
NCOs will have until Dec. 1, 2023, to be promoted before going to the school that traditionally corresponds with that rank, such as Basic Leader Course for sergeant and Advanced Leader Course for staff sergeant. However, soldiers must complete their schooling within a year of being promoted or they will revert back to their previous rank, according to the memo signed Dec. 1 by Lt. Gen. Douglas Stitt, who oversees Army personnel policy.
One exception to that one-year deadline is engineer divers, who will have two years.
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The change to allow promotions before school was spurred mostly due to NCO schools having a backlog of students, tied to the coronavirus pandemic. Other than schooling, NCOs will have to be otherwise fully qualified for their promotion, including the completion of their online Distributed Leader Course.
“I really wanted to announce that we don't need that exception to policy anymore,” Sergeant Major of the Army Michael Grinston said at a briefing in October. “We are still struggling to get our soldiers to school before it's time to get promoted.”
Getting a slot…
