Army making promotions tougher

[Infanteer]

The perspective/opinion of the unit leadership is essential in getting promoted in the Canadian Forces, from what I have seen.

Both in official and unofficial ways. Officially, PERs - annual evaluations written by a superior and reviewed by his superior - are compiled and the scores for the past 3 years considered.

Unofficially, the "who you know and who knows of you" matters as well - the Armoured and Infantry Corps have a Regimental system and the other Branches are small enough to be considered as the same. This "canalizes" progression within Regiments (for instance, promotions and appointments in the Infantry are generally - I say this with a caveat - split equally between the 3 Regiments) In these Regiments, Colonels and their Regimental Sergeants Major have considerable say in who goes where and most are likely to personally know of a subordinates performance and personality to some degree.

It's even more pronounced in the Armoured Corps, where soldiers entire careers revolve around a single battalion Regiment.

A system with its strengths and drawbacks to say the least - a lesson in social dynamics for any observer.

[ekaphoto]

IMHO several things need revamping.

First as said above PLDC or WLC now, BNOC and ANOC needs revamping to actually teach someting of value. I heard a rumor that since so many people were failing land nav they were going to quit teaching it or at least make it a self correcting course ie if you fail the land nav you still pass the course in WLC.

The NCOER system should be done away with or changed to be its original intent. As it stands now a bad NCOER can kill any future promotions and your military carear is over. I have NEVER met an NCO or Officer that was perfect. The NCOER and OER's should reflect the true evaluation of the NCO or Officer. How else are they to learn? If they are not going to be honest on the NCOER then what is the point except for some petty NCO evaluater being able to make his subornates dance on a rope at his whim and distract from their true job. The current checkbox system does just that. If an NCO is weak in a certin area his eval should be able to show that without repurcussions to the NCO. He/she may be an exellant NCO but need work in a couple of areas. IMHO the NCOER should NOT be a part of the promotion packet, just a yes or no from the NCO's next chain of command in do they recommend them for promotion.

Last. No system is going to be perfect but the current system we have has degraded over the years to make the NCO's worry more about getting theior ticket's punched than being a true leader.