WIESBADEN, Germany - Promotions, overseas voting, evaluation reports and new career opportunities were some topics Maj. Gen.Thomas Seamands, the Commanding General of the U.S. Army Human Resources Command, addressed during the HRC Roadshow 2016 visit to US Army Europe Aug. 22 -- 23.
The team of Seamands and HRC Command Sgt. Maj. Wardell Jefferson travelled to several U.S. Army Europe locations to meet with Soldiers, leaders, human resource managers to discuss the latest in force shaping and career management during the HRC Road Show. The HRC roadshow visits approximately 40 installations worldwide throughout the year.
The focus of the HRC Road Show is to share the latest hot topics in personnel and career management and gain feedback from the field to share with the HRC team.
One issue Seamunds tackled during the visit was issues with promotion in relation to the U.S. Army drawdown, where the federal government has determined the U.S. military, and hence the U.S. Army, cut troop number almost in half.
"When we do promotions in the Army, we promote the requirements, so as the Army gets smaller, we have fewer requirements as we're going through the drawdown," he said.
In addition to discussing drawdowns and promotions, Seamunds provided news of feedback regarding the new NCOER, the noncommissioned officer evaluation report, which was implemented Jan. 2016. Seamands discussed results of this first year with the new evaluations.
"In terms of the actual evaluation and the process, (we're getting) positive feedback from the field," he said. "Promotion boards can look at a very small part of the OER (officer evaluation report) and NCOER, read four or five lines; get the message from the rater or senior rater in terms of does the officer or NCO have the promotion potential to be promoted, and then vote accordingly to select the NCOs."
Voting and the ability to vote from anywhere in the world, particularly during a Presidential election year, is also managed through the Voting Assistance Office, another aspect of HRC.
"Every unit has a voting officer," Seamands said. "We've got the senior leadership involved with public service announcements, so from the senior leadership down to the unit level, we're asking people to be engaged."
"It's a fundamental right that we defend." he said. "Take an opportunity to vote, because it's fundamental to why we wear our uniform to have that right for people to vote and for our citizens to make their ballots count, and the military is no difference."
While Soldiers cannot officially advocate a party or candidate, according to Seamands, an absentee ballot for those service members and family overseas is an important action to take.
Despite the drawdown of the Active Force, Seamands discussed the existence of a multitude of positive opportunities for career development.
"Historically, we've had a lot of great opportunities, so when an NCO or officer finishes their key developmental assignment, they get a chance to do things like go to JMTC (Joint Multinational Training Center now 7th Army Training Command) or do CTC (Combat Training Center) to be an observer/controller, or to work a ROTC, recruiting command, all things along those lines," he said.
There are a multitude of other training capabilities available and Seamunds encouraged Soldiers to make the effort to find out about the training available for ones' own career path.
For more information about all the training capabilities and much more, Army Human Resources Command's website is a solid resource at www.hrc.army.mil
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