April 2012 Army CWO Active Duty Promotion Results

[Lindsey]

Im glad that an Apache pilot told me they cant see sh*t, especially us 58s.

 

Now imagine instructing in a tiny R22 at a busy uncontrolled airport on a sunny day. Came *this* close to a midair last week in controlled airspace (the Mooney never saw us as I took the controls from my student and banked HARD right to avoid). I'll take your Bell any day.

[SBuzzkill]

PWT gets nuts with all the old fogeys that come out once a year to fly their airplanes while being 10 years out of medical. The last few months I was there some old guy landed his plane on the drag strip, realized his error after everyone was talking about him on CTAF, turned around and took back off for 01. As he was taxiing in a WSP pilot got on the radio and ended up meeting him at the pumps. That plane sat out in front of the diner at least until I left with a for sale sign on it.

[Lindsey]

PWT gets nuts with all the old fogeys that come out once a year to fly their airplanes while being 10 years out of medical. The last few months I was there some old guy landed his plane on the drag strip, realized his error after everyone was talking about him on CTAF, turned around and took back off for 01. As he was taxiing in a WSP pilot got on the radio and ended up meeting him at the pumps. That plane sat out in front of the diner at least until I left with a for sale sign on it.

 

No kiddin' mate! For me, it's hand on the collective, head on a swivel.

[SBuzzkill]

Just keep staying over there on the west side of the airport. That will keep you out of the way of most of the crazies.

[Joe_P148]

I saw the tides change in the later part of the Reagan yrs, the H. Bush yrs, and Clinton yrs. Was told of the same after Korea (big institutional change that remained since), and Vietnam by those I served with in my early yrs.

All promotions and career hurdles are thrown before you as a knee-jerk reaction by the johnny come latelys at big army.

Your timing of service and ability to navigate these stumbling blocks, have a greater influence on the outcome of your career than the quality of your service.

Careerism is what kills the quality of the overall service, turns ones priorities into self-preservation at all cost, ethical default rampant throughout the chain of command all the way to the top, and a "corporate" mindset that has no place in the armed services.

 

To sum it up: Military Sucks!

 

Was browsing through the forums and saw this, spot on what we are dealing with today...

 

Anyone heard anything about this years board? Unoffical list should have dropped today..

[AW1985]

I heard 29/30% for CW3. A lot of upset CW2s running around the hangar today. It's hard to stay positive after hearing that.

[Lindsey]

I heard 29/30% for CW3. A lot of upset CW2s running around the hangar today. It's hard to stay positive after hearing that.

Jesus.

[SBuzzkill]

"Flying is your first priority and if additional duties are in the way of that then let us know and we'll figure it out. Now, enter this stuff into DTMS, lay this property out, grab a truck from the motorpool and bring these containers to DLA, type up a memo for the M4 range you will be OIC of, get ready for the second ARMS inspection in a year and also a command inspection, get your DA photo taken every month, do PT twice a day to get a 300+, teach 7 classes about sexual harassment, then about EO, then about hazing, then about safety, do the mandatory training for information awareness, risk management, accident avoidance, we're giving away all of your ACOGs and getting 3 from HHT and 2 from C Troop so please get that stuff ready, we need to move our office to another hangar next week, damnit we have to move all our stuff again, hey I need everyone to bring their pcs orders, marriage certs, etc down to S1 again, head over to the division sponsor class, acs is coming to give a brief, time for an OPD please attend after reading this mandatory story about leadership... Can't do it? Well that will be reflected on your OER good luck making W3."

 

It is what it is. LoL

Edited July 26, 2013 by SBuzzkill

[akscott60]

I heard 29/30% for CW3. A lot of upset CW2s running around the hangar today. It's hard to stay positive after hearing that.

 

My god.

 

Sigh. Whats the f*cking point.

[UH60L-IP]

"Flying is your first priority and if additional duties are in the way of that then let us know and we'll figure it out. Now, enter this stuff into DTMS, lay this property out, grab a truck from the motorpool and bring these containers to DLA, type up a memo for the M4 range you will be OIC of, get ready for the second ARMS inspection in a year and also a command inspection, get your DA photo taken every month, do PT twice a day to get a 300+, teach 7 classes about sexual harassment, then about EO, then about hazing, then about safety, do the mandatory training for information awareness, risk management, accident avoidance, we're giving away all of your ACOGs and getting 3 from HHT and 2 from C Troop so please get that stuff ready, we need to move our office to another hangar next week, damnit we have to move all our stuff again, hey I need everyone to bring their pcs orders, marriage certs, etc down to S1 again, head over to the division sponsor class, acs is coming to give a brief, time for an OPD please attend after reading this mandatory story about leadership... Can't do it? Well that will be reflected on your OER good luck making W3."

 

It is what it is. LoL

 

Hey, I think we've been in the same company!

[akscott60]

Hey, I think we've been in the same company!

No sh*t. That whole paragraph essentially describes the last 3 months of my life.

[Velocity173]

That's it, I've changed my mind. How do I get out of my contract.

[AW1985]

AKscott hit it on the head!!!

 

And I thought my company was the only one. Yeah, and after all that, maybe we will fly you once a month.

 

I knew it going into it though.

 

There are worse places to be!

[Joe_P148]

Track IP bro... It cuts the horse sh*t by about half, kinda...

 

30% CW3, ha anyone know any breakdowns yet? anybody on this board other than me? I think even my top block OER's aren't going to fair up to this craziness. I've never seen it as low as 30%. Thats just about enough to pick up the sequence numbers from last year.

 

They really are pushing these new guys to track ASAP. I have friends, out of flight school 2 years after me worried about tracking with thier measly 50 hrs of PC time. I don't want a guy to go to the IP course and try and give me an apart when I have 800 more PC hours than him or her.

[Ardo09203]

I feel a little silly asking these questions, but I keep seeing all these acronyms, and have no idea what people are talking about. Would anyone mind explaining some of these to me?

 

IP

PI

"Tracked"

"Tracking"

SP

PC

RL1, RL2, etc.

PCS

[PhrogGuy]

I feel a little silly asking these questions, but I keep seeing all these acronyms, and have no idea what people are talking about. Would anyone mind explaining some of these to me?

 

IP "Instructor Pilot"

PI "Pilot"

"Tracked" "Basically focus area, Maintenance Testing, Instructor Pilot, Tactics, Standardization"

"Tracking" "See above"

SP "Standardization Pilot"

PC "Plane Commander"

RL1, RL2, etc. "Readiness Level 1,2,3, RL1 would be basic qualified, 2 Core competencies, 3 Advanced missions (Para Ops, Soft Duck etc)

PCS "Permanent Change of Station, basically moving bases"

[Velocity173]

You got most of it Phrog with a few exceptions.

 

1. PC-Pilot in Command

2. Standardization isn't a track

3. Your RL status is backwards

 

Other than that it's good.

[PhrogGuy]

I guess I was overlaying some USMC stuff for the RL progression Primary=1 Core=2 and Advanced=3

Sorry to be Mr. BumGouge. Thanks for the correction.

[raptorzx6r]

You have 6 years to prep for W3, do you not? When the time comes, are you automatically put on the promotion board?

[Velocity173]

You have 6 years to prep for W3, do you not? When the time comes, are you automatically put on the promotion board?

6 yrs is the norm. I got picked up at 5 yrs on an 80 % board. Sorry guys, those were the good ole days.

 

Yes you're automatically put up for the board. There is a career progression list that you'll get in WOCS outlining everything you need to be competitive. Things have changed but generally after CW2:

 

Get new DA photo

Oath of Office for commissioning

Sign Vol INDEF (I believe that's automatic now?)

Work on nonresident WOAC studies

Constantly update ORB with awards, schools, assignments etc.

Get BA degree (hopefully)

Track

6 yrs TIG

 

Those are the basics. With the current 30 % promotion rates you can bet the other 70 % aren't dirt bags they just didn't meet the cut. Every little thing counts.

Edited July 26, 2013 by Velocity173

[raptorzx6r]

6 yrs is the norm. I got picked up at 5 yrs on an 80 % board. Sorry guys, those were the good ole days.

 

Yes you're automatically put up for the board. There is a career progression list that you'll get in WOCS outlining everything you need to be competitive. Things have changed but generally after CW2:

 

Get new DA photo

Oath of Office for commissioning

Sign Vol INDEF (I believe that's automatic now?)

Work on nonresident WOAC studies

Constantly update ORB with awards, schools, assignments etc.

Get BA degree (hopefully)

Track

6 yrs TIG

 

Those are the basics. With the current 30 % promotion rates you can bet the other 70 % aren't dirt bags they just didn't meet the cut. Every little thing counts.

 

So basically, stay in shape, keep the competitive mentality you had when you got selected for WOFT in the first place, work hard (like as if it were your career or something) and never stop trying to make yourself a better, more educated person and soldier.

 

You just can't stop wanting it -- is that about the sum of it?

[Ardo09203]

Thanks for explaining that to me!

[SBuzzkill]

 

So basically, stay in shape, keep the competitive mentality you had when you got selected for WOFT in the first place, work hard (like as if it were your career or something) and never stop trying to make yourself a better, more educated person and soldier.

 

You just can't stop wanting it -- is that about the sum of it?

 

If only it were that easy.

[av8rnik]

does it provide any stats on those selected? I was wondering how much something like a master's degree makes a difference.

[Fliesbecauseracecar]

A degree does make a difference, and a Masters more than a Bachelors, more than an Associates. Truth is that the number one discriminator for most boards is going to be your OER (Officer Evaluation Report.) Typically the board members aren't going to spend hours staring at the top guys or the bottom guys, most of the time is in the middle. Mostly what happens is that they get to your packet, look at your DA photo (not fat, check, uniform looks good, check, awards match ORB, check), skim your OERs, this guy is meets the above check, and has all top blocks on his/her OER, this one goes in the "promote" pile. Next packet, DA photo not current, clearly doesn't care, goes in the bottom stack. Folks that aren't at either end go in the further review pile.

 

OK, we have slots for 68% (my 2-3 board numbers) 25% are in the promote pile, those guys are in.

 

Now the question is, do we have more or less than 43% in the middle pile? Less, those move to the promote, and start finding the best of the worst options. More, we start finding the bottom of the middle pile to move into the not promoted pile.

 

Pretty simplified, but accurate from the briefs we have gotten on the promotion briefs. Keeping your WOPD current for your grade, making PC. Getting a track prior to W3 strongly encouraged, but not 100% required. PT is command dependent. If your command is huge on PT it matters, if they are ok with mid range (250ish) then it isn't so important to get a 300. What the board sees is pass/fail only, the promotion board doesn't see your PT score.

 

Biggest thing you can do for yourself, is be an outstanding pilot, but understand the expectation is everyone should be a good pilot. Following that, as an untracked PI, find an additional duty to separate yourself from the pack, ask for the shitty ones, Property and Unit Movement Officer are a couple that require work and good organization, but when done well will net you good writeups on your OERs. When you get stuck with the fridge fund, don't bitch, and make it the best fridge in the battalion.

 

In the end, you are competing for promotion slots and everyone you compete with is a pilot, so find a way to stand out from the crowd. Don't brown nose, just look for ways you can effectively contribute to the unit's success and your OER will write itself.