For years an assignment as an instructor at the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy was looked upon by the field as a "career killer" -- "No room for advancement; you go there and you get forgotten; it's a retirement assignment." While far from actual reality, the way sergeants majors were being managed at the time did seem to be support that notion, until now.
Shortly after taking office as the 14th Sergeant Major of the Army in March of 2011, Sgt. Maj. of the Army Raymond Chandler III began discussing his vision to "broaden sergeants major with the goal to show Soldiers how to progress from private to sergeant major of the Army."
According to a white paper, Policy and Program Changes for the Senior Enlisted Leader, published in 2012 by Sgt. Maj. Scott Wilmot, then the Force Management Directorate G-3/5/7 sergeant major, sergeants majors from the G-3/5/7 met with Chandler in August 2011 to discuss his vision to broaden sergeants major. In that meeting Chandler emphasized that everyone needs to understand the processes of "How the Army Runs" to include all the Department of the Army and Army Command agencies with roles to move the pieces which will make these new policies fit together and achieve the important objectives. He then directed the team to "take my vision and turn it into reality no later than March 2015…the goal is for all of this to be in place before I leave; come back to me in two weeks and show me a timeline with who are the right people to be in the working groups to get this done."
Within weeks, the white paper notes, the working group refined Chandler's vision and determined there was a multitude of functional and programmatic work that needed to be done and organized to pass thru three decision and accomplishment GATES, those GATES are: GATE-1) document nominative sergeants majors the same as nominative command sergeants major; GATE-2) Headquarters Department of the Army sergeant major position adjustments; GATE-3) Identify, document, and manage broadening experience positions for sergeants major.
On 3 Feb 2012, implementation instructions were announced by memorandum, Notification of Future Change (NOFC) E-1210-06, and posted in the electronic DA Pam 611-21 Smart Book.
Broadening defined
The Chief of Staff of the Army Gen. Raymond T. Odierno defines broadening as, "The purposeful expansion of a leader's capabilities and understanding provided through opportunities internal and external to the Army throughout their career, that are gained through experiences in different organization cultures and environments resulting in a leader who can operate at the strategic level in multiple environments."
But how does one become broadened as a sergeant major? Is there a roadmap and what does that look like?
"Every branch MOS (military occupational specialty), CMF (career management field) grows NCOs by skill set -- by MOS and skill level -- ASIs (additional skill identifiers) and different functional requirements, and they will be on a professional development model," said Wilmot, now the lead strategist and force management advisor to the Commandant of the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy. "We also know that being a drill sergeant in a particular MOS is something you have an opportunity to be and it is expected that so many people will be drill sergeants from your community. But that is not technically broadening. What broadening would be is for a sergeant major to take a position that is not one your branch, your background, or your CMF grows you to be prepared for, yet the Army is asking for us to put a sergeant major in this position to do this work. The best way to fill that position is to go throughout the force and try to find someone with a like skill set by exhibition of previous duty assignments -- you have been a successful brigade command sergeant major, you have done some other things in your background, I need to put a sergeant major at the assistant secretary of the Army for manpower and reserve affairs to work with a senior executive service, 1-star equivalent and you fit the bill."
Wilmot added that no CMF grows a sergeant major to be that person.
"What [the Army is] asking a sergeant major to do is to step out of their comfort zone, do something they have not formally been trained by the Army to do, but we think this person is the right fit, and we want you to get in there for a year or two. We want you to define this capability and we are going to ask somebody to come in behind you and do the same thing. And we are going to keep doing that over and over again," he said. "The Army didn't prepare you for it and won't prepare for it because there are not enough people required to do it. You are not going to have an MOS for it, not going to have an ASI for it, it is broadening in nature and we think you are going to be very good at it."
Wilmot emphasized that broadening assignments should be looked at as a stepping stone to the next higher level, and are career-enhancers when it comes to being looked at for nominative assignments.
"Broadening assignments open up your sight aperture," he said. "It gives you a better appreciation for strategic and executive level things so when you do become a 2-, 3- or 4-star level command sergeant major or sergeants major, in addition to being that strong leader or that strong staff person in a sergeant major position, now you understand this other critical piece of the Army as well."
In looking at the coding for sergeants majors, Wilmot explained the different levels and how they are identified.
"A 00X is a brigade level command sergeant major outside of the CMF. 7X is an ASI, so the 00X is the MOS that gives you the command sergeant major requirement and the 7X says the level of command sergeant major I want," he said. "A 6X is a broadening position for somebody who is post battalion sergeant major or command sergeant major. So you can be someone who has been a battalion operations sergeant major as a 6S or a battalion command sergeant major as a 6C and maybe you didn't get picked up for brigade command sergeant major or sergeant major, but we know there is going to be some time in there before you do get picked up, the 6X positions are that stepping stone. It is okay to be these people. It is about gaps and capabilities."
Wilmot added that once you get to the 7X level, you have your foot in the door for being looked at for nominative positions and are managed by the Sergeants Major Management Office, or SMMO, and not the Command Selection List managed by Human Resources Command.
There are also broadening assignments for post 2- and 3-star level command sergeant major and sergeants major positions.
USASMA assignment is a career-enhancer
The USASMA recently held an executive session with the commandant to identify all of the sergeants major positions that will be identified as broadening. What came out of that session were 133 positions that include instructors, senior instructors, deputy directors, directors and command-level positions.
Jesse McKinney, the Academy's director of personnel, explained what was done to make the positions at USASMA broadening.
"We went through each sergeant major position, because all sergeant major positions in the Army have to be coded with the level they are," he said. "Broadening assignments are entry level and above, so all of our sergeant major course instructors are listed as 6S which is saying that they would have had to have been out at a battalion level before coming here to instruct."
McKinney noted, the more critical positions, that are on the staff and in command with the command sergeant majors at the academy, are listed as 7C or 7S understanding that 7S also includes previous command time.
"We coded the [positions] either as entry level, battalion, brigade, or post command sergeant major level. We had our brigade command sergeant coded as 7C for brigade command," McKinney said. "What we did was we switched that to 7S and here is why. If it is a command coding it has to be selected by the CSL (Command Selection List) board. If it is a 7S, staff, then the commandant picks who that person is -- 7S already implies that you had former command sergeant major time or brigade staff time."
The positions at USASMA are not the career killers once thought of because the new broadening strategy is considered a stepping stone to the next level and it has visibility in the sergeants major management system, Wilmot said. But, as with any assignment there are commitments to be fulfilled.
"When you come out of battalion ops or from being a battalion command sergeant major, some of you are going to be asked to go to the Sergeants Major Academy to become cadre. Some are going to be asked to be Observer Controllers at Fort Irwin, or Fort Polk, some will be asked to be OCs over in Germany at Hohenfels, some are going to asked to do other broadening positions," he said. "You don't get to drop your retirement papers after you arrive. When you sign up for this job, there is a requirement that you are going to do 2 years as an instructor and while you are here, during your first 9-12 months, the leadership at the academy may decide that you are so good at what you do, you are going to get an advancement in position at the academy to something higher than this. But you will be in an agreed business practice between the academy, HRC, the sergeants major branch and the SMMO."
Command Sgt. Maj. Rory Malloy, USASMA's commandant, hopes that with the positions at the academy being identified as broadening the field will see it as a means for career advancement and won't be so reluctant to be an instructor or work on the Academy staff.
"Basically there are a number of unique positions that a sergeant major could operate in," he said. "Yes, we need to use you for 18 to 24 months if you are assigned as an instructor or to the academy, but it is no longer the three year death trap as some might say it is. We are also working on getting sergeants majors selected into the nominative program from here."
McKinney explained how vacancies at the academy could be filled.
"The commandant can go through the SMMO for an Army wide message to be put out to ask for applications, or he can send an email to the field, but at some point if we do it independently the SMMO has to be brought in to see who that person is because they have to start managing that person for the rest of their career," he said.
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