TRADOC Pam 525-3-7-01 - TRADOC - U.S. Army

TRADOC Pam 525-3-7-01The Army must consider expanding its direct entry recruiting at potentially higher grades.Technically skilled individuals, along with medical and legal personnel, benefit from direct entryrecruiting at higher grades. For example, a highly trained automotive mechanic takes many yearsof training and experience to achieve master technician status. Recruiting this type of skilledindividual can reduce costs. To lure such individuals away from their secure civilian occupationsthe Army will need to compensate them above what they were earning or provide othercommensurate incentives.Current policies limit the ability of Soldiers to move readily between Active Army, ArmyReserve, and National Guard service. While the continuum of service initiative attempts toanswer this, the Army must develop and institutionalize actionable programs to make this areality.The ARFORGEN model influences personnel actions significantly. The model attempts tocycle forces through operational readiness in order to maintain the required number of BCTsnecessary at any given time in a high state of readiness. Synchronizing the rotation cycle of threeyears and the staffing cycle is paramount. This requires close management to transition fromlegacy personnel policies to ones that address the needs of Soldiers in the future. ARFORGENmay provide predictability on deployment aswell as periods of recovery that contributesignificantly to Soldier and family morale.Recruiting SummaryChanges to the future personnel systemsshould consider active sampling from the fieldto provide feedback on the effectiveness of theprograms. This will require a degree offlexibility in the system to respond to feedback.The Army must continually adjust the “buy orbuild” paradigm while working to change theperception of Army service, and making theinvestments to encourage the right people to join the service. The Army must also providetraining to develop individuals who do not initially meet standards. Lastly, the focus of resourcesand effort needs to be on providing a user friendly menu of enlistment options and processes.7-4. Retaining the ForcePromotion and selection systems wield great power in retaining a qualified professional allvolunteerforce. Promotion and selection laws and policies reinforce the values of theorganization and make clear what the Army considers necessary for advancement. Promotionand selection systems require scrutiny and or modification to assure that the Army selects themost qualified individuals in an inherently fair manner.Promotion profoundly influences how Soldiers see themselves, their peers, and their seniors.While promotions for NCOs in the early grades involve leaders who have actually seen these156