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February - Fort Sill - U.S. Army

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as a requirement to explain in writing to<br />

the<br />

Secretary of Defense why you<br />

separated<br />

before meeting the statutory<br />

tour-length<br />

requirements.<br />

Joint Specialty<br />

Officers<br />

As mentioned<br />

earlier, SASC<br />

recommended the<br />

services overhaul their<br />

military education<br />

systems,<br />

particularly<br />

in the joint education<br />

arena. Title IV<br />

subsequently dictated that<br />

the services<br />

establish a career specialty<br />

for officers<br />

educated and experienced<br />

in joint<br />

matters.<br />

But the Congress didn't<br />

intend to create<br />

a select group of officers to serve in joint<br />

positions for the rest of their military<br />

careers. Rather, it wanted to ensure the<br />

services were developing jointly oriented<br />

officers through a professional education<br />

system. These officers would provide<br />

continuity for joint matters critical to<br />

strategic and operational<br />

planning. They<br />

also could serve as mentors in the joint<br />

arena and their own services. Thus, the<br />

JSO and the additional<br />

Skill Identifier 3L<br />

were created.<br />

Many officers were awarded JSO status<br />

based on pre-law (1986<br />

Goldwater-Nichols<br />

Act) tours, education<br />

or a combination of the two. On 1 October<br />

1989, all transitional<br />

measures to award<br />

officers JSO status<br />

and (or) joint duty<br />

credit expired.<br />

For you to earn the 3L Skill Identifier<br />

today, you must follow a strict sequence<br />

of events: Education<br />

+ JDA + JSO<br />

Board=JSO. This<br />

formula shows how you<br />

become a JSO.<br />

Education. The<br />

education is JPME<br />

Phases I and II. You get JPME Phase I<br />

credit by attending a resident command<br />

and staff college or senior service<br />

college. As a staff college graduate,<br />

you<br />

get a JPME Phase II credit by attending<br />

a<br />

12-week course at the Armed Forces<br />

Staff College<br />

(AFSC)<br />

at Norfolk,<br />

Virginia. As a senior service college<br />

graduate, you attend a five-week course<br />

at AFSC. If you attend the National War<br />

College or the Industrial College of the<br />

Armed Forces (both in Washington,<br />

D.C., part of the National Defense<br />

University), you receive credit for JPME<br />

Phases I and II upon graduation.<br />

The Chairman of the JCS<br />

designates<br />

JPME-producing<br />

institutions for all<br />

services. Because JPME Phase I and II<br />

schools are joint, the Joint Military<br />

Education Policy Document<br />

determines<br />

attendance criteria— not a service's<br />

standard attendance policies.<br />

The <strong>Army</strong> has a maximum of 333<br />

Phase II slots spread over four classes<br />

per year at the AFSC. You may attend<br />

the AFSC TDY en route to a joint<br />

assignment or TDY and return upon<br />

signing into a joint assignment. Your<br />

joint command selects the JPME Phase<br />

II class date for you to attend. The<br />

Chairman of the JCS' policy is that<br />

eligible officers attend JPME Phase II<br />

within the first 12 months of assignment<br />

to joint duty. The joint commands are<br />

responsible for ensuring only qualified<br />

officers attend JPME Phase II.<br />

Recent initiatives by the Chairman of<br />

the JCS enable the services to give Phase<br />

I equivalency for attendance at most, but<br />

not all, foreign command and staff<br />

colleges, foreign senior service colleges<br />

and a few fellowship programs. Because<br />

the list of schools and fellowships<br />

qualifying is too lengthy for this article,<br />

your Field Artillery Branch assignment<br />

officers have copies of it. Your<br />

assignments officer can tell you if a<br />

specific school is on the list.<br />

The Chairman of the JCS also<br />

approved and accre dited the Command<br />

and General Staff College (CGSC), <strong>Fort</strong><br />

Leavenworth, Kansas, non-resident<br />

program for JPME Phase I equivalency,<br />

beginning with graduates in the summer<br />

of 1992. Procedures for implementing<br />

this policy are under development and<br />

will be published once approved.<br />

JSO Board. The last step in the JSO<br />

process is the board, which is handled<br />

like any promotion or command<br />

selection board. Those who meet the<br />

education and JDA requirements will be<br />

considered for the joint specialty.<br />

If<br />

selected,<br />

you receive Skill Identifier 3L.<br />

Because the <strong>Army</strong> considered its<br />

entire eligible population for JSO status<br />

during 1988 and 1989, currently there isn't<br />

a large enough pool of JSO-eligible<br />

officers to convene a board. The next JSO<br />

board probably will convene in FY92 or<br />

FY93. More than 6,400 officers were<br />

awarded JSO status during the initial JSO<br />

boards, with approximately 4,700 of them<br />

still on active duty.<br />

If you complete JPME Phases I and II<br />

plus a JDA, you won't automatically be<br />

selected for JSO status. As a result of<br />

promotion objectives outlined by the<br />

Congress in Title IV, the number of JSOs<br />

must be carefully managed to ensure<br />

service compliance with the law. Your<br />

promotion potential is a key factor for<br />

selection to JSO. Failure to meet<br />

established promotion objectives<br />

could<br />

result in the Congress passing legislation<br />

restricting the services more in the<br />

selection and promotion of JSOs.<br />

Myth and Truth<br />

Without question, Title IV is an<br />

extremely complex law that<br />

impacts on<br />

your professional development. Because<br />

the joint management procedures<br />

differ<br />

vastly from Regular <strong>Army</strong><br />

assignment<br />

practices, many misconceptions<br />

have<br />

surfaced. We'll try to dispel some<br />

of the<br />

more common myths about joint<br />

assignments and JSOs.<br />

Myth #1. My<br />

chances for<br />

promotion<br />

are greater if I've<br />

served or am currently<br />

serving in a joint<br />

duty billet.<br />

Sorry, this isn't true. Promotion<br />

boards<br />

are told to give officers serving in joint<br />

positions due consideration for promotion<br />

but not anymore<br />

consideration for<br />

promotion than officers serving in<br />

recruiting, ROTC, NTC or any other<br />

assignment. The FY91 Colonels and<br />

Lieutenant Colonels Boards<br />

bear this out.<br />

The bottom line: it isn't<br />

the job that gets<br />

y ou promoted, it's your performance in the<br />

job.<br />

Myth # 2. With the joint<br />

specialty, I get better<br />

assignments than those who<br />

don't have 3L.<br />

Not so. There are 370 <strong>Army</strong> joint<br />

critical positions on the JDAL across all<br />

branches and functional areas. These<br />

positions require JSOs. The maximum<br />

number of joint critical functional areas<br />

and Field Artillery positions in which<br />

Field Artillery officers can serve is<br />

154—63 for lieutenant colonels and 91<br />

44 Field Artillery

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