February - Fort Sill - U.S. Army
February - Fort Sill - U.S. Army
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