JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. (May 29, 2015) -- The Army Reserve's 99th Regional Support Command, or RSC, hosted a senior-enlisted promotion board this past week at the Maj. John P. Pryor Army Reserve Center.
Thirty board members comprised of field-grade officers and senior noncommissioned officers vetted promotion packets to identify Soldiers eligible to become the next master sergeants in the Army Reserve.
"This is all about supporting the Army Reserve to select that next group of leaders," said Karen Quintana, chief of the Enlisted Management Branch for the 99th RSC's Directorate of Human Resources. "The entire Army Reserve population of eligible sergeants first class to be looked at for master sergeant were included in this board process."
Each of the Army Reserve's four RSCs is responsible for hosting annual promotion boards for the grades of E-7, E-8 and E-9. The RSCs convene the boards, take care of all administrative needs and assemble the board members from across the Army Reserve.
"We reach out to our Operational, Functional, Training and Support commands and solicit for volunteers who want to come and be a part of the board," Quintana explained. "They come in and they're trained up on the process and what they should be looking at as far as promotion potential, and we ensure diversity across the board so that way there are no biases."
Board members also received training on all facets of junior-enlisted promotion management and had the opportunity to request access to the Commander's Strength Management Module, or CSMM, and Command List Integration, or CLI, Module via the Reserve Component Manpower System in response to overwhelming requests for additional training as it pertained to the Command List Integrations of junior Soldiers for promotion and multiple other changes as outlined in AR 600-8-19.
"If not for those board members, the board wouldn't be a success," Quintana said. "It's those board members and their experience that helps us select the person that's going to make the grade. It takes all the Army Reserve coming together to make this successful."
The 99th RSC provides essential services and support to Soldiers, civilians and their Families in the nation's northeast region, and throughout the entire nation in the case of promotion boards.
As a premier service provider, the 99th RSC focuses on hosting senior-enlisted promotion boards that adhere to Department of the Army G-1and U.S. Army Human Resources Command standards.
"By having the regional support commands conduct these boards, we're more able to replicate those board processes, making sure that everything is meeting the Army regulation requirements and that the best Soldiers are recommended for promotion," said Command Sgt. Maj. James P. Wills, 99th RSC command sergeant major. "The rate of change for promotion procedures in the Army Reserve has been exponential and continuous."
While keeping up with the latest procedural and regulatory changes is the RSCs' responsibility, Wills also said that each Soldier has a responsibility to look after his or her own career as well.
"The reflection of a good leader in today's military is someone who is attention-to-detail oriented, who can go in and look at their record to make sure they have a current DA photo, that they have current evaluations, that they have their Enlisted Record Brief current," Wills explained. "The individual Soldier has to understand it's on that person to go in and make sure they do their "red ink" correction on their Personnel Qualification Record, their 2A, their 2-1, and send those in as part of their board file before the senior-enlisted promotion board.
"My advice to commanders is that they should reach out to the DHR teams of the RSCs and solicit information or feedback for training aids, Memorandums of Instruction, any kind of guidance that's out there," he continued. "I also think it's an opportunity for the 99th RSC to make sure we focus on training opportunities.
"Let's take personal pride and have a full understanding of what it means to submit a board file for consideration for promotion," Wills added.
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