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PME requirements for promotion will no longer be waived for NCOs, he said, beginning next year.
Enforcing education requirements comes as a widening of STEP, which stands for selection,
training, education and promotion. It was first used to require master sergeants and first sergeants
to attend the Sergeant Major Academy to get promoted and now it’s expanding to all NCO ranks.
It’s simple, but everyone must understand, Davenport said, “You will not be promoted until you
attend the appropriate level of PME.”
Other upcoming changes include:
— Establishing the NCO Professional Development System (per HQDA EXORD 235-15)
— Renaming of the Warrior Leader Course to Basic Leader Course
— Using a Digital Job Book that documents all training for Soldiers as part of the Digital Training
Management System, or DTMS
— Redesign of the SGM Academy
— Establishment of the Institution for NCO Professional Development or INCOPOD
— Development of an Executive Leader Course for command sergeants major
— Publicizing more broadening opportunities for NCOs
— Providing a “Digital Rucksack” to students that includes course materials, apps and technical
manuals
— Requiring Army Service School Academic Reports or DA 1059s to include date of a Soldier’s last
physical fitness test, along with a height and weight statement
The effective date of the last change and others may be determined by a proponency conference
taking place this week, Davenport said.
The changes will be “revolutionary,” not just “evolutionary” like past changes to NCO professional
development, said Davenport and retired Sgt. Maj. of the Army Kenneth Preston, who served as
moderator for the panel discussion.
“Noncommissioned officers and their Soldiers must be ready to perform (their) missions in an
increasingly complex world in which they find themselves today,” Preston said.
“This is an opportunity for the NCO Corps to take charge of NCOES, of how we educate our non-
commissioned officers,” said retired Command Sgt. Maj. John D. Sparks, who is now director of
TRADOC’s Institute for Professional Development.
“You’ve got to own NCOES,” Sparks told NCOs in the room about rebalancing the NCO Education
System.
More guidance on NCO professional development is expected in December, Davenport said, with a
third fragmentary order to be released in the spring.