TIS - Most important aspect for promotions?

Flyboy · #1 01-29-2009, 09:36 PM

Hello everyone,
I registered a while ago but this is my first post, so I would just like to say "hi".

We are in a sticky situation in the AFJROTC Group at my school. We had a lack of recruits a few years ago that has left our junior class (typically our junior officers and department NCOICS) very small, and unable to cover all of the positions in the corps. In the two years sense our recruiting has spiked and we have a large Freshman/Sophomore group. Our first semester was taken up completely by preparing for an HQ inspection (got an exceeds standards

), so now we are pulling stuff back out from underneath the rug. This coupled with the chain of command that pulled several strong enlisted into officership, and several officers jumping up to SQ/CCs and GRP/CC we have some gaping holes. To try and fix this the senior leadership is planning on moving the Inspector General and Assistant Inspector General to other places and removing the IG positions, re-appointing someone who got fired from Human Resources and giving him a promotion to boot, and are probably going to let some departments go without anything but an officer (even large departments).

With that said, in our corps there typically are no leadership positions for first years (other than folding laundry for LG or stuff of the sort with no official position and therefore no rank/recognition), and only 4 or 5 for second years. We have approxemently 30 freshmen and 25 sophomores, quite a few of these people work harder for less than a good deal of NCOICs and a few officers. Following tradition (though I believe the only one who is really against promoting these people past c/SrA (1st) and c/TSgt (2nd) and giving them a position they could handle (and without "age limits" could easily get) is our ASI. It is our SASI's first year over here and so our ASI pretty much runs the show) we are taking these drastic changes because it is believed that no matter how hard first or second years work (believe me, I have done a LOT of leading edge work, putting in more hours than a job, and I still get rejected every time a SQ/CC or even the GRP/CC recommends me for a position) they don't have the TIS to be anything more than a Club NCO.

The long and the short of it is: Does/did your unit value TIS so much that they are willing to take a big hit to productivity rather than promoting people who, though capable of the work does not pass "the age requirements"?

~~Flyboy

P.S. I am not ranting because I didn't get a promotion, I could care less what rank I am, but because we are doing pretty drastic damage for a seemingly silly reason (though who am I to judge?), and if next year's senior leadership doesn't reverse all of the work then we could end up not having important departments like Inspector General and Public Affairs, and having other departments seriously understaffed.

TruBlu · #2 01-30-2009, 09:44 AM

Instead of asking if TIS is the most important aspect for promotions, you should be asking yourself if rank is the most important aspect of a position. I think that your corps should keep the strict TIS for promotions (my unit is implementing such a system as we speak) and that it should not be broken because of the acquisition of particular duties. With this concept in mind, you will not have to sacrifice necessary positions or a well established promotion system. I say qualifications and a desire to succeed in a job area is more important than the rank they bear. Here's what I would do if I were you (and this is actually what I do when I am me, so I know it works):

First, examine the situation you have and the positions that need to be filled by seniors because of their experience. Once you run out of seniors, then move on to the juniors. Then you will run out of juniors. If you run out of juniors and still have necessary positions, you can try to do one of two things: consolidate or place sophomores in those positions. If you consolidate, you can have one person occupying multiple positions and rank contingency is maintained. If you place sophomores in those positions, you maintain their ranks and TIS and simply have cadet NCOICs instead of a cadet officer.

Go ahead and place those cadets in question (the sophomores if I am reading this correctly) in the positions that need to be filled. Consolidate when necessary and expand the younger cadet's capabilities when you run out of seniority. Along with it will be problems such as cadets wanting higher rank because of their position. Tell them upfront that TIS will be maintained, and that's it. It will give them the experience they want, and will maintain the promotion system you have in place.

How about that?