Some of things going on for promotion have been that way for a while (pre-iraq war). Jedburgh (I think) pointed out that paperwork requirements can be a pain not to promote them. This is true. If you opt not to send a soldier to a promotion board for which he is eligible, that soldier has to be counseld in writing as to why not. when I was a company commander I used to enforce this. The BN CSM backed us, but there was some pressure from higher because retention reigned supreme in early 2001. It was no different in the late half of the 1990's. As a company commander, I put the ball in the PL/PSG court. They had to justify to me why they were not going to send a soldier to a promtion board. This was to force them to do their job and be involved/proactive in the training/teaching/mentoring of soldiers. As a commander you get heat from higher for doing this, and the paperwork/ IG complaints/poor attitutde can be a pain. When I took command I had to clean out a back-log of multiple time drug offenders, because the previous command team didn't enforce the standard. I caught hell when my chapter numbers went up, but I did it. Understand that commanders get a lot a pressure, especially with a war on, and no system is perfect. Also understand sometimes you have to give people an opportunity to fail if you want to move ahead. the key is know your people and assess what works. Also understand that their is a rank structure. Kilcullen wrote an excellent thought piece, but it is by no means gospel. Apply it as well as you can within the system you have to operate. Just remember these problems are nothing new, and you have to deal with them.

It sounds like you are doing well at this. Good Luck and keep it up.