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                         May 3, 2002

Study IDs NCO concerns

By Joe Burlas

WASHINGTON (Army News Service) -- NCOs want better information as to how they stack up technically, tactically and leadership-wise with their peers, according to the latest round of the Army Training and Leader Development Panel study.

Based upon written surveys, focus groups and one-on-one interviews with more than 30,000 active-duty, Reserve and National Guard soldiers and spouses, the panel’s NCO study results were released Thursday.

"The NCO study is another example of the extraordinary integrity and credible authority of the chief of staff of the Army’s Training and Leader Development Panel," said Brig. Gen. David Huntoon, executive agent for Army Leadership at Fort Leavenworth, Kan. "This report is about the U.S. Army taking a bold and forthright look at itself -- expressed in the clear and courageous voice of its soldiers. It’s about the human dimension leading transformation. And, it is about making a great, professional noncommissioned officer corps even better."

The NCO ATLDP study results raised many of the same issues of an officer ATLDP study conducted in 2000. The officer study results were released last May.

Both studies agreed that Army practices are out of balance with soldier beliefs, the Noncommissioned Officer Education System needs improvement, there is a need for more trust and less micromanagement between seniors and subordinates, training resources need to be maintained, improved and provided as required and that pay and benefits could be better.

Combined Arms Center Command Sgt. Maj. Cynthia Pritchett, who purposely chose not to review the officer study findings in order not to be prejudiced when evaluating the NCO data, said she wasn’t surprised that the two outcomes were so similar.

"The NCO study just validates the earlier officer study -- there are some real issues here that must be examined," Pritchett said. "It also shows the Army’s commitment to its people -- that the Army is not afraid and needs to take a close look at itself."

There was one comment from an NCO that did surprise many of the panel members, Pritchett said. The NCO wrote that he did not feel responsible when one of his soldiers failed to perform or meet standards. That comment reinforced many survey participants’ views that top-down training management leaves little, if any, time for NCOs to conduct their own sergeant’s time training, she said.

The study found that there is a need for more consistent standards and better enforcement of those standards. Part of this issue reflects back to the perceived need to improve NCOES, because many Mission Training Plans are outdated or nonexistent. The MTP is a formal document that lays out the individual, leader and collective tasks, conditions and standards that each type of Army unit can expect to perform in carrying out its mission.

"There was a time that everyone in the Army trained to published tasks, conditions and standards," said retired Sgt. Maj. of the Army Robert Hall, who served as a senior mentor to NCO ATLDP members. "For many reasons -- top-down management, OPTEMPO, 9-11, lack of current MTPs -- the Army has slipped from training that way. There is a real need to ground the new generation [of NCOs] with using current MTPs."

While survey participants did not fault the NCO Evaluation Report per se, they said it was not being used effectively to provide the feedback they need to improve, according to Pritchett.

"Let’s face it, people in the Army are competitive by nature," she said. "They want to know how they’re doing compared to their peers. The NCO-ER just isn’t doing that."

Many of the respondents, especially among the younger NCOs, said they would like to see something like the old military occupational specialty tests that were given annually more than 20 years ago, Pritchett said.

About one-third of NCOs surveyed do not believe NCOs maintain MOS skill proficiency, while more than half said unit mission essential tasks are not being trained to standard, stated the study’s final report.

"Don’t look for any fixes coming out of this study because the NCO corps isn’t broken," Hall said. "The NCO corps isn’t like a rusty old heap sitting in the driveway; it is like a Mercedes just needing a wash and a wax. This study will help arm Army leadership with the facts it needs to make decisions that will ensure the NCO corps’ and the Army’s successes of the past 226 years will keep pace with transformation."

The final report on the NCO ATLDP study can be viewed at www.army.mil/features/ATLDNCO.htm.

Two additional ATLDP studies are underway: one surveying warrant officers, and another reviewing the attitudes and opinions of Department of the Army civilians.