July 16, 2025 • 27 mins
Facing a military promotion board can make even the most confident soldier anxious. The stakes are high—one wrong answer could derail your career advancement. But what if you could walk into that room knowing exactly what to expect and how to respond?
This episode delivers a comprehensive roadmap for conquering any military board, from Soldier of the Month to promotion boards. Drawing from nearly two decades of experience, we break down the nine critical elements that separate successful candidates from those who leave empty-handed. You'll discover how to master the fundamentals that every board expects you to know—from your chain of command to the Soldier's Creed—and how to study efficiently by focusing on consistently asked topics rather than trying to memorize entire regulations.
We dive deep into the psychology of board proceedings, revealing why your appearance and confidence matter just as much as your knowledge. Learn the proper reporting procedures, how to address board members correctly, and the best way to handle questions you don't know the answers to. You'll also gain insights into preparing an effective personal biography, practicing with mock boards, and crafting a compelling "Why me" statement that showcases your readiness for greater responsibility.
Beyond just surviving your board appearance, this guide teaches you how to thrive under pressure and present yourself as the leader the Army needs. Whether it's your first board or you're helping prepare your soldiers, these battle-tested strategies will help you walk in confident and walk out with stripes. Remember, as we say: you don't have to embrace the suck if you've got the right tools in your ruck.
Ready to transform your board preparation? Listen now, and don't forget to check our description for the bio template mentioned in the episode.
Thanks for listening, please download and leave a review.
Remember, you don't have to embrace the suck, if you have the right tools in your ruck!
If you have any question comments, or ideas for the show you can send them to my Gmail account: rogersarnt@gmail.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
So you think you're ready for the soldier of the
month or promotion board.
One wrong answer could tank yourshot at promotion, so let me
show you exactly how to walk inconfident and walk out with
stripes.
Roger Sarn, welcome to theRoger Sarn podcast, where we
(00:27):
talk all things army and todayI'm giving you in my opinion on
what I think it takes to passany board.
I'm also going to give you atemplate for writing your own
bio and, without further ado,let's get started.
So you just found out thatyou're going to the promotion
(00:48):
board or you're going to thesoldier of the month board, and
in reality, this shouldn't be asurprise per se, because, as a
junior enlisted soldier, youknow your best way of ranking up
is going to a board, either ifit's a soldier of the month
(01:10):
board, soldier of the quarter,soldier of the year, whatever it
is, you know that the board isyour rite of passage to gaining
your stripes.
So it's not so much of asurprise in reality, because
this day is coming.
It's not if it's when.
And as for promotion, onceyou've, if you're smart and you
(01:33):
do it the right way, you go to abunch of boards soldier of the
month boards and you work yourway through, your command sees
you, so when it's time to go tothe promotion board, they
already have an idea of who youare, and then it makes it a lot
easier for you because now youare more comfortable with those
individuals.
So you're not in there shakinglike booty meat right.
(01:54):
So you found out that you'regoing to the board.
There are some basic things thatyou have to master.
The first thing I want you todo is just master the basics.
So what is basics?
You have to know your chain ofcommand and or or and support
channel.
So I'm talking about from yoursquad leader all the way up to
(02:18):
the SECF, all the way up to thepresident of the United States.
Just know it.
You's just general knowledgethat you need to know at your
level.
You need to know if you haveany pressing issues, who are you
going to talk to next?
Who's your squad leader?
Who's your team leader?
Who's your first sergeant?
Who's your battalion sergeantmajor?
(02:40):
Who's your brigade sergeantmajor?
Know your way through.
So, therefore, these basicquestions can get answered
easily.
Now the next thing I want youto understand is, and know is
going to be your created anon-commissioned officer and
(03:00):
your soldiers creed, right, andI have videos on those or
recordings on those that I'llput right here.
You can listen to them whileyou're at the gym, while you're
sitting around in the cough,whatever it is, and it just gets
ingrained.
You start listening to it andyou continuously listen to it
and then, when it's time to sayit, you're going to say it with
(03:21):
confidence and you're going tosay it with command presence,
because that's the biggest dealin the in the boards.
One time I was deployed at thistime and his name was Corporal
Jones.
I'll never forget him.
He used to always stop me.
I was going to the promotionboard, he always stopped me.
I'm like, oh, soldiers Cree,soldiers Cree, soldiers, cree.
(03:45):
And I'm like, why do I need toknow the soldiers?
I already know that, but I justneed to know my, um, my, my NCO
Creek, cause that's what I'mgoing for, right?
And he's like all right, cool,whatever, but he was still
stopping me, right.
Guess what?
They asked me when it was timeto get for my promotion board.
They asked me the soldiersCreek, get for my promotion
(04:08):
board.
They asked me the soldierscreed.
They did not ask me the NCOcreed at all, because I was
expected to know it Right.
So that was kind of like athing.
So know both of them.
Next, next basic thing that Iwant you to understand is I want
you to be able to, and be readyto, recite the army values,
warrior ethos and your generalorders, and those have to be
verbatim.
Right.
(04:29):
Three general orders is notthat big of a deal, right?
Know those verbatim, becausethose are basic soldier
knowledge that they want you toknow.
They teach you this in basictraining and so on and so forth.
The second thing I want you todo is I want you to study smart,
(04:50):
not just study hard.
I'm talking about study smart.
You're going to focus on theboards topics that always come
up.
I made a video and reference.
We'll talk about it in a second.
So the first thing that youlearn in the military is uniform
(05:10):
and appearance AR670-1, right,that's the first thing that you
learn how to put your uniform on.
So this is a basic thing.
Customs and courtesies, when tosalute.
Good morning Sergeant, goodmorning sir, good morning ma'am.
Whatever it is, they teach youhow to do this.
(05:36):
It's basic Weapons,marksmanship, basic First aid is
going to come up.
Leadership and counseling it'sgoing to come up.
Military justice, ucmj it'sgoing to come up Army program,
sharp EO, boss All those thingsare going to be in this board
and they're basic soldier thingsthat you need to know.
(05:57):
You know how many times I'veseen soldiers and I've also
experienced this myself thatsomething happens to them or
their peer and they don't knowwhere to address it.
A lot of things happen sharp EO, whatever it is and soldiers
(06:17):
just go about their day becausethey don't know what to do.
Another thing is soldiers goabout their day in reference to
staying in their rooms all thetime because they don't
understand that balls has abunch of opportunities and if
you're a single NCO, sometimesthey'll call you.
I remember I was in Alaska,fort Wainwright, and there was a
boss trip down to Anchorage andI was the NCO for said boss
trip 18 soldiers, it was two ofus and I got a free trip down to
(06:44):
Anchorage with a whole bunch oftroops and I'll never forget
that.
But yeah, you have tounderstand these and in order to
study smart, you have to use abunch of resources.
One resource that I'll talkabout is let me switch over is
going to be APD.
Right, Right here you can findany regulation 670-1.
(07:09):
I click that in there, I hitenter or search, whatever it is,
and internet moving slow as Idon't know what Yo stop playing.
So I click on that and if Idon't know why my internet is
moving so slow, but it would popup here if it would like to.
(07:33):
But here you have, uh, counterintelligence awareness, all
these regulations that are here,developmental counseling forms
that are here, developmentalcounseling forms that are there.
So if you look across, you gotforms.
I'm not sure why my internet'stripping.
To be honest with you Now I'mkind of tight.
There we go 670-1, where inappearance and you see that I'm
(07:56):
on it a bunch of times becauseyou can see it's already been
clicked before you have yourpublications.
Talks about it, got the formsthat you use.
Talks about it.
Got the forms that you use.
Talks about it.
Additional resources um,there's also the center for uh
army lessons learned, or callthat.
You may know about it as weteach this in bay in um.
(08:18):
Blc has publications, audiobooks, lesson learned for while
training.
Another thing that's prettycool about this is it has a
bunch of books that you can read, that you can download.
This one right here FirstHundred Days as a Platoon
Sergeant or Platoon Leadership.
It's the second edition.
(08:39):
They have many things that youcan use in order to study a
little bit harder.
And then you have the nco guideand this one right here I kind
of I I kind of really like thisone because if you, if you go
I'm let's go down to page fiveit'll have all the um, I guess
what is this?
(08:59):
The index or whatever thecontext, the content that's in
here, and it has all thechapters and I've picked out a
couple of them.
Page 11, you have your NCOcreed.
Right after that you have thecharge of the non-commissioned
officer.
Let's go to page 35.
You have your competencies.
(09:20):
You have to know yourcompetencies if you're going to
the promotion board, becausethis is what you're going to be
like using in order to trainright Readiness, leadership,
training, management.
All of these things are inthere and they're there to help
you.
And this is just more knowledge.
One of the most importantthings right here is
(09:42):
understanding your roleunderstanding your role as a
sergeant and understanding yourrole as a corporal.
Once you pass BLC, you get yourcorporal stripes and you start
moving into that NCO world Right, and this is important because
a lot of times we don'tunderstand.
What is it that we're supposedto do?
And right here it gives you theframework on what you're
(10:04):
supposed to do do.
And right here it gives you theframework on what you're
supposed to do.
And they talk about the eightstep training model.
Because you use this anytimethat you conduct a training.
I even made a videoparticularly about the eight
step training model and I showhow to apply it.
I'll put it up here as well.
Let's go over to page 57.
What's on page 57?
Attributes and competencies.
Page 57.
What's on page 57?
Attributes and competencies.
(10:25):
This is the basis of your NCOER.
That's it.
You understand this and youmaster this.
Yes, you master these sixrealms and you start writing
your own NCOER without evenknowing it.
Let's go down to page 59.
(10:46):
Talks about compliance andcommitment.
A lot of us we like to complain.
I'm a complain, but I'm acomply and I've been in for
almost 18 years, so I'mdefinitely committed.
Right.
But we have to understandthere's a thin line between
between complaining andcomplying and complying.
So this talks about that.
(11:08):
The capacity of an individualhas the influence, has to
influence the attitude, behaviorof others.
So if you're always complaining, your subordinates will do the
same, and that's very, very bad.
What is that called?
The rotten apple gets onerotten apple to do the whole
(11:28):
batch, or whatever it is Right.
Here we're talking about levelsof leadership strategic,
organizational, direct.
Which one do you fall under?
Do you, if you do know, put itin the comments.
If you don't know, here it is.
Now you know, let's do somemore.
Let's go to page 75 and we'retalking about here.
It highlights the requirementsof the dlc or that you need to
(11:54):
do in order to get to the nextncoes, right, some of you guys
don't know that.
I didn't know it for a while.
Just go to page 102, and we'retalking about officer-NCO
relations.
And the reason why I bring thisup is because I need you to
understand that every individualwill come across and work for,
(12:15):
work with, alongside an NCO.
Every soldier period I'mtalking junior enlisted NCOs,
officers they all get influencedby an NCO.
This is why it's so pivotal tounderstand and do what you're
(12:37):
supposed to do.
Know what you're supposed to do, because it's all about your
experience.
And lastly, let's go to 137.
And here we're talking abouttools, right, like I told you,
army Training Network.
It has a bunch of tools.
Army Career Tracker is whereyou see your number and you do
your OML number and you do your,your um, your, your career plan
(13:00):
, call to like the car, likeit's so many uh cancel.
So just use this.
It's a it's, it's a really goodtool to use for moving forward.
Right, and that's the NCO guide.
So the third thing I want you tounderstand, I want you to
(13:22):
understand, I want you to knowregulations that matter, don't
get me wrong.
All of them matter, but focuson these key manuals 670-1,
uniform, um and grooming.
Uh, uniform and appearance,sorry, uh.
Ar 600-20, command policy,right, and this has sharpeneo in
(13:45):
it.
Fm 7-22, holistic health andfitness.
Fm 3-22.9 that's riflemarksmanship.
Uh.
Tc 3-22.249, I believe it, andthis is about the crew serve
weapons, right.
Abcp 600-9, which is the bodycomposition.
(14:05):
Atp 6-22.1, and that's going tobe the Army counseling process.
I also did a video in referenceto the five at bare minimum
regulations that you need toknow, that are your bread and
butter as an NCO.
I'll put those in.
I'll put it somewhere over here.
You can click on it and watchit later.
(14:26):
But these are regulations thatyou need to understand because
it's the it's, it's the nextstep and when you have soldiers,
their careers are are in yourin your hands, and you have to
understand how to navigatethrough these uh obstacles that
you're going to um be confrontedwith.
(14:46):
To be honest with you, um, holdon one second.
Next thing I want to talk aboutis the fourth thing.
Is you have to look the partand you can sit here and say
well, it is what it is, I'mgoing to be me.
No, it's not going to cut it.
Your uniform, when you walk intothe board, it has to be
(15:08):
flawless.
I'm talking about flawless.
It has to be lint free.
Your shoes have to be have aboot, um, boot, black on it,
whatever the heck is callingcalled.
It has to be shiny.
Your jump boots have to lookgood.
Your name placards have to belevel.
Your haircut got to be tight.
Your uniform has to fit.
You have to have your gig lineand have your dog tags, have
(15:32):
your ID card for whenever theyask you about these things, and
it's just part of just yourpresentation.
If you come in and you presentyourself looking crazy, then
they're going to treat you as ifyou're crazy.
So if you want them to take youseriously, show them that you
put in the work to be takenseriously.
(15:53):
Practice your marching right,your walking right.
Practice it Because when youwalk in there, there's the
infamous robot and I know you'veseen it.
I know you've seen videos.
I know you've seen soldiers Ifyou're an NCO that's done these
mock boards you've seen yoursoldiers walk in and do the
(16:16):
robot with left arm, left legmove, right arm, right leg move.
It just sets you up for a badday.
Understand reporting.
When you walk in sitting withposture, have confidence in what
you do right.
Those are all points thateveryone's looking at.
(16:36):
Right.
When you walk in, walk in likeyou're already the soldier,
slash NCO that they want topromote, soldier that already
won the board, just own it.
It's hard, trust me.
It's hard because we worry, ashumans, about how people
(16:58):
perceive us.
So I know it can be hard but atthe same time, confidence is
key.
The fifth thing I want to talkabout is practice board
etiquette.
So when you get there and it'syour turn, you're on deck and
you're waiting that soldiercomes out and they look at you
(17:20):
like and they do the whole crazything or they say it's not that
bad, it's not that bad,whatever it is that they say
it's your turn, you lock in, youtake your deep breath and you
knock three times boom, boom,boom.
And then you march in smartly,you go directly, you take the
(17:43):
shortest path, stand a few stepsaway from that table and you
say and you come to the positionof attention and you report
Specialist Cruz reports to thepresident of the board, as
directed, as ordered, whateverthe word is, and you don't drop
your salute until they do.
(18:04):
And sometimes they'll messageyou.
I'm not going to lie.
Sometimes they'll message youand they'll just hold it up
there and if you drop it,they're going to a bad day.
It's going to be a bad daybecause now they're going to sit
there and they're going to honein on it, right?
So understand, confidence is key.
Now, a lot of times people sayconfidence is key, as long as
you say something, it works,blah, blah.
(18:26):
They want you to say something,just not nothing.
No, no, confidence is key,meaning that you own, even when
you're wrong, meaning I'll giveyou an example in a second.
But you have to understand thatthe confidence is key term or
the mentality comes from.
They want to know if you canmake a split second decision.
(18:49):
That's it and that's theconfidence.
Are you confident enough to leadyour soldiers down a certain
path when shit hits the fan?
To lead your soldiers down acertain path when shit hits the
fan, next thing you want to dois you want to make eye contact
and you want to address NCOs bytheir proper rank and always say
yes, sergeant Major, no, firstSergeant, sergeant.
The answer is, whatever it is,that it is right.
(19:11):
And if there's a MasterSergeant in there, I don't know
man, there's this unwritten rulethat we call the master
sergeant or mass sergeant,whatever, however way it comes
out of your mouth right here.
Um, just, I would justpersonally, I would just say
master sergeant, whatever it is,because you mess around, you
say yes, sergeant, and they holdyou to that unwritten rule.
(19:35):
You just may have lost theirvote, and whether you're right,
I'd rather be wrong and meet theobjective than be right and not
meet the objective.
So just don't put yourself in acompromising situation.
So if you don't know an answer,I would say me personally.
(19:58):
If you don't know an answer, Iwould say me personally,
sergeant.
I don't know the answer at thistime, but I'll find out, for if
and when the situation mayarise in the future, as a leader
.
That's what I would say.
I'm not going to say thissilliness of I can find it in AR
670-1 and I'll get back to youlater.
(20:19):
Blah, blah, blah.
Why.
Why are you getting back whenthe results are already four
hours ago?
Why do I need to go back andwaste that Sergeant Major's time
, waste that First Sergeant'stime, waste that Platoon
Sergeant's time, whoever's onthe board?
Why do I need to waste theirtime?
So, in my personal opinion, Ithink it's a, it's a setup for,
(20:41):
for, for silliness.
I think it's irrelevant.
I think the best answer to sayin that point is I will find it.
And if you want to say oh yeah,it's in 670-1, I know it's in
there, but I'll look it up forany, I think it's for more for
any future situations that I mayencounter as a leader, that's
it.
I don't need to bring anythingto no.
(21:01):
Sorry, major, I don't want totalk to him.
I only talk to you right nowbecause you're on the board.
Other than that, I don't wantto talk to you.
You know what I mean.
So, number six know your recordsand know your points right.
Be ready to discuss your ACFTor AFT score, whichever one you
(21:22):
have.
Be ready to talk about yourheight and weight, especially if
you're big and bulky, right?
Because some of us you knowwhat I'm saying we're big, like
that, nah, but some people arejust big and their weight is
higher and whatever it is, andthey're going to just talk to
you about crazy stuff.
If you have a profile you awards, education, whatever it is be
(21:43):
ready to talk about it.
And, of course, your leader isgoing to have a, um, a clean
copy of your SRB, uh, sglv,whichever one that they ask for,
but just know your SRB, know it.
And last part of that is knowyour bio.
If you don't know you, how do Iknow you?
(22:07):
And I'll put in the descriptionI'll put a template for a bio
and it's literally like I don'tknow 10 questions or so that
when you answer those questionsin complete sentences, how you
would talk, it will write yourbio for you.
And if there are other ways towrite it, I'm just giving you a
(22:29):
way.
That's it.
I'm just providing you with away on how to write a bio.
That can be some may considerlong, some may consider too
short.
However it may be, use it ifyou want to.
If not, don't, don't make meknow, nevermind, but it's out
there for you.
Number seven you're going tohave to do mock boards, and when
(22:51):
you do mock boards, it createsmore confidence, right?
Ask your leaders to conductmock boards.
Too many leaders that I knowthey're going to say well, I
didn't blah, blah, blah.
Back in my time I studied bymyself blah, blah.
Well, make them, do their job,make them.
Hey, sergeant Cruz, I want amock board Friday at this time.
Can we have it?
(23:12):
Yeah, sure, and then that NCOme, I'll get me two other NCOs
and we'll grill you for about anhour or two or 30 minutes,
whatever it is, and we'll getyou right and we'll continue to
do those.
But you have to apply thepressure.
A lot of leaders are now waytoo relaxed and way too come get
me for my expertise versus justvolunteering it.
(23:35):
Right, and that's going tocreate you practicing under
pressure.
You're going to get bluntfeedback on your bearing, on
your knowledge and on yourappearance.
This is what you want.
This is what the mock boardsare for.
And the next thing, number eight, I think we're at have a why me
(23:56):
statement ready.
Why should we promote you?
That's the question, right.
So be ready for the question.
Why should we select you forsoldier of the month?
Or why should we select you forpromotion?
And make sure that you answerthis question with confidence,
(24:16):
not arrogance, right?
Let me give you an example onhow I would probably answer this
.
So why should we promote you,sergeant?
I take pride in setting thestandards, holding myself and
others accountable andrepresenting my unit with
discipline and professionalism.
I am ready to take on greaterresponsibility.
(24:40):
Short and simple.
What is that?
One run-on sentence, maybe twoat best.
That is it.
You don't have to do too much.
You don't have to do too little.
Straight, sweet and to thepoint, because that's how army
writing is right Clear, conciseand to the point.
And you give them that.
Why should we promote you?
(25:00):
Have your why statement ready.
That's it.
Because they're going to asksome crazy stuff.
And number nine, I would say, iskind of like a bonus Study your
unit's recent events, haverecent events that's going on in
the world in your head, right.
Know your unit's mission, knowtheir recent training
(25:24):
deployments and what theirpriorities are.
And I think it kind ofimpresses them by knowing that
you're plugged in and you'rejust not studying for points.
You're not studying for this,right, and yeah, it's about
showing that you are more thanjust what meets the eye,
(25:46):
understand what's going on inthe world and never give your
opinion.
They won't even put you in thatposition.
I don't think I haven't been ona board.
I haven't boarded or, as aboard member, asked a question.
That's about a personal opinionon things that are maybe going
on, unless it's sports,something light like oh yeah,
the Eagles won the Super Bowl orwhatever it is Right, and then.
(26:09):
And then it'd be like so what'syour team Giants?
Duh, you know what I mean andit and it makes everything
lighthearted.
Just make sure that you justunderstand what's going on in
your footprint and what's goingon around you, because they're
going to probably say take mearound the world in 30 seconds,
take me around the world in 60seconds, and that's your
opportunity to give them yourfeedback.
(26:32):
Now I want to hear from you howdo you study?
How do you help your soldierspass their boards?
Drop your thoughts in thecomments.
Do me a favor like, comment andsubscribe all that cool stuff.
And if you found thisdiscussion insightful, check out
my video right here somewhereon the five traits high-speed
soldiers display.
(26:53):
This is my personal opinion andremember you don't have to
embrace the suck if you got theright tools in your ruck.
I'm Sarn Cruz and I'll see youin the next one.
Peace, roger Sarn.
So you think you're ready for the soldier of the
month or promotion board.
One wrong answer could tank yourshot at promotion, so let me
show you exactly how to walk inconfident and walk out with
stripes.
Roger Sarn, welcome to theRoger Sarn podcast, where we
(00:27):
talk all things army and todayI'm giving you in my opinion on
what I think it takes to passany board.
I'm also going to give you atemplate for writing your own
bio and, without further ado,let's get started.
So you just found out thatyou're going to the promotion
(00:48):
board or you're going to thesoldier of the month board, and
in reality, this shouldn't be asurprise per se, because, as a
junior enlisted soldier, youknow your best way of ranking up
is going to a board, either ifit's a soldier of the month
(01:10):
board, soldier of the quarter,soldier of the year, whatever it
is, you know that the board isyour rite of passage to gaining
your stripes.
So it's not so much of asurprise in reality, because
this day is coming.
It's not if it's when.
And as for promotion, onceyou've, if you're smart and you
(01:33):
do it the right way, you go to abunch of boards soldier of the
month boards and you work yourway through, your command sees
you, so when it's time to go tothe promotion board, they
already have an idea of who youare, and then it makes it a lot
easier for you because now youare more comfortable with those
individuals.
So you're not in there shakinglike booty meat right.
(01:54):
So you found out that you'regoing to the board.
There are some basic things thatyou have to master.
The first thing I want you todo is just master the basics.
So what is basics?
You have to know your chain ofcommand and or or and support
channel.
So I'm talking about from yoursquad leader all the way up to
(02:18):
the SECF, all the way up to thepresident of the United States.
Just know it.
You's just general knowledgethat you need to know at your
level.
You need to know if you haveany pressing issues, who are you
going to talk to next?
Who's your squad leader?
Who's your team leader?
Who's your first sergeant?
Who's your battalion sergeantmajor?
(02:40):
Who's your brigade sergeantmajor?
Know your way through.
So, therefore, these basicquestions can get answered
easily.
Now the next thing I want youto understand is, and know is
going to be your created anon-commissioned officer and
(03:00):
your soldiers creed, right, andI have videos on those or
recordings on those that I'llput right here.
You can listen to them whileyou're at the gym, while you're
sitting around in the cough,whatever it is, and it just gets
ingrained.
You start listening to it andyou continuously listen to it
and then, when it's time to sayit, you're going to say it with
(03:21):
confidence and you're going tosay it with command presence,
because that's the biggest dealin the in the boards.
One time I was deployed at thistime and his name was Corporal
Jones.
I'll never forget him.
He used to always stop me.
I was going to the promotionboard, he always stopped me.
I'm like, oh, soldiers Cree,soldiers Cree, soldiers, cree.
(03:45):
And I'm like, why do I need toknow the soldiers?
I already know that, but I justneed to know my, um, my, my NCO
Creek, cause that's what I'mgoing for, right?
And he's like all right, cool,whatever, but he was still
stopping me, right.
Guess what?
They asked me when it was timeto get for my promotion board.
They asked me the soldiersCreek, get for my promotion
(04:08):
board.
They asked me the soldierscreed.
They did not ask me the NCOcreed at all, because I was
expected to know it Right.
So that was kind of like athing.
So know both of them.
Next, next basic thing that Iwant you to understand is I want
you to be able to, and be readyto, recite the army values,
warrior ethos and your generalorders, and those have to be
verbatim.
Right.
(04:29):
Three general orders is notthat big of a deal, right?
Know those verbatim, becausethose are basic soldier
knowledge that they want you toknow.
They teach you this in basictraining and so on and so forth.
The second thing I want you todo is I want you to study smart,
(04:50):
not just study hard.
I'm talking about study smart.
You're going to focus on theboards topics that always come
up.
I made a video and reference.
We'll talk about it in a second.
So the first thing that youlearn in the military is uniform
(05:10):
and appearance AR670-1, right,that's the first thing that you
learn how to put your uniform on.
So this is a basic thing.
Customs and courtesies, when tosalute.
Good morning Sergeant, goodmorning sir, good morning ma'am.
Whatever it is, they teach youhow to do this.
(05:36):
It's basic Weapons,marksmanship, basic First aid is
going to come up.
Leadership and counseling it'sgoing to come up.
Military justice, ucmj it'sgoing to come up Army program,
sharp EO, boss All those thingsare going to be in this board
and they're basic soldier thingsthat you need to know.
(05:57):
You know how many times I'veseen soldiers and I've also
experienced this myself thatsomething happens to them or
their peer and they don't knowwhere to address it.
A lot of things happen sharp EO, whatever it is and soldiers
(06:17):
just go about their day becausethey don't know what to do.
Another thing is soldiers goabout their day in reference to
staying in their rooms all thetime because they don't
understand that balls has abunch of opportunities and if
you're a single NCO, sometimesthey'll call you.
I remember I was in Alaska,fort Wainwright, and there was a
boss trip down to Anchorage andI was the NCO for said boss
trip 18 soldiers, it was two ofus and I got a free trip down to
(06:44):
Anchorage with a whole bunch oftroops and I'll never forget
that.
But yeah, you have tounderstand these and in order to
study smart, you have to use abunch of resources.
One resource that I'll talkabout is let me switch over is
going to be APD.
Right, Right here you can findany regulation 670-1.
(07:09):
I click that in there, I hitenter or search, whatever it is,
and internet moving slow as Idon't know what Yo stop playing.
So I click on that and if Idon't know why my internet is
moving so slow, but it would popup here if it would like to.
(07:33):
But here you have, uh, counterintelligence awareness, all
these regulations that are here,developmental counseling forms
that are here, developmentalcounseling forms that are there.
So if you look across, you gotforms.
I'm not sure why my internet'stripping.
To be honest with you Now I'mkind of tight.
There we go 670-1, where inappearance and you see that I'm
(07:56):
on it a bunch of times becauseyou can see it's already been
clicked before you have yourpublications.
Talks about it, got the formsthat you use.
Talks about it.
Got the forms that you use.
Talks about it.
Additional resources um,there's also the center for uh
army lessons learned, or callthat.
You may know about it as weteach this in bay in um.
(08:18):
Blc has publications, audiobooks, lesson learned for while
training.
Another thing that's prettycool about this is it has a
bunch of books that you can read, that you can download.
This one right here FirstHundred Days as a Platoon
Sergeant or Platoon Leadership.
It's the second edition.
(08:39):
They have many things that youcan use in order to study a
little bit harder.
And then you have the nco guideand this one right here I kind
of I I kind of really like thisone because if you, if you go
I'm let's go down to page fiveit'll have all the um, I guess
what is this?
(08:59):
The index or whatever thecontext, the content that's in
here, and it has all thechapters and I've picked out a
couple of them.
Page 11, you have your NCOcreed.
Right after that you have thecharge of the non-commissioned
officer.
Let's go to page 35.
You have your competencies.
(09:20):
You have to know yourcompetencies if you're going to
the promotion board, becausethis is what you're going to be
like using in order to trainright Readiness, leadership,
training, management.
All of these things are inthere and they're there to help
you.
And this is just more knowledge.
One of the most importantthings right here is
(09:42):
understanding your roleunderstanding your role as a
sergeant and understanding yourrole as a corporal.
Once you pass BLC, you get yourcorporal stripes and you start
moving into that NCO world Right, and this is important because
a lot of times we don'tunderstand.
What is it that we're supposedto do?
And right here it gives you theframework on what you're
(10:04):
supposed to do do.
And right here it gives you theframework on what you're
supposed to do.
And they talk about the eightstep training model.
Because you use this anytimethat you conduct a training.
I even made a videoparticularly about the eight
step training model and I showhow to apply it.
I'll put it up here as well.
Let's go over to page 57.
What's on page 57?
Attributes and competencies.
Page 57.
What's on page 57?
Attributes and competencies.
(10:25):
This is the basis of your NCOER.
That's it.
You understand this and youmaster this.
Yes, you master these sixrealms and you start writing
your own NCOER without evenknowing it.
Let's go down to page 59.
(10:46):
Talks about compliance andcommitment.
A lot of us we like to complain.
I'm a complain, but I'm acomply and I've been in for
almost 18 years, so I'mdefinitely committed.
Right.
But we have to understandthere's a thin line between
between complaining andcomplying and complying.
So this talks about that.
(11:08):
The capacity of an individualhas the influence, has to
influence the attitude, behaviorof others.
So if you're always complaining, your subordinates will do the
same, and that's very, very bad.
What is that called?
The rotten apple gets onerotten apple to do the whole
(11:28):
batch, or whatever it is Right.
Here we're talking about levelsof leadership strategic,
organizational, direct.
Which one do you fall under?
Do you, if you do know, put itin the comments.
If you don't know, here it is.
Now you know, let's do somemore.
Let's go to page 75 and we'retalking about here.
It highlights the requirementsof the dlc or that you need to
(11:54):
do in order to get to the nextncoes, right, some of you guys
don't know that.
I didn't know it for a while.
Just go to page 102, and we'retalking about officer-NCO
relations.
And the reason why I bring thisup is because I need you to
understand that every individualwill come across and work for,
(12:15):
work with, alongside an NCO.
Every soldier period I'mtalking junior enlisted NCOs,
officers they all get influencedby an NCO.
This is why it's so pivotal tounderstand and do what you're
(12:37):
supposed to do.
Know what you're supposed to do, because it's all about your
experience.
And lastly, let's go to 137.
And here we're talking abouttools, right, like I told you,
army Training Network.
It has a bunch of tools.
Army Career Tracker is whereyou see your number and you do
your OML number and you do your,your um, your, your career plan
(13:00):
, call to like the car, likeit's so many uh cancel.
So just use this.
It's a it's, it's a really goodtool to use for moving forward.
Right, and that's the NCO guide.
So the third thing I want you tounderstand, I want you to
(13:22):
understand, I want you to knowregulations that matter, don't
get me wrong.
All of them matter, but focuson these key manuals 670-1,
uniform, um and grooming.
Uh, uniform and appearance,sorry, uh.
Ar 600-20, command policy,right, and this has sharpeneo in
(13:45):
it.
Fm 7-22, holistic health andfitness.
Fm 3-22.9 that's riflemarksmanship.
Uh.
Tc 3-22.249, I believe it, andthis is about the crew serve
weapons, right.
Abcp 600-9, which is the bodycomposition.
(14:05):
Atp 6-22.1, and that's going tobe the Army counseling process.
I also did a video in referenceto the five at bare minimum
regulations that you need toknow, that are your bread and
butter as an NCO.
I'll put those in.
I'll put it somewhere over here.
You can click on it and watchit later.
(14:26):
But these are regulations thatyou need to understand because
it's the it's, it's the nextstep and when you have soldiers,
their careers are are in yourin your hands, and you have to
understand how to navigatethrough these uh obstacles that
you're going to um be confrontedwith.
(14:46):
To be honest with you, um, holdon one second.
Next thing I want to talk aboutis the fourth thing.
Is you have to look the partand you can sit here and say
well, it is what it is, I'mgoing to be me.
No, it's not going to cut it.
Your uniform, when you walk intothe board, it has to be
(15:08):
flawless.
I'm talking about flawless.
It has to be lint free.
Your shoes have to be have aboot, um, boot, black on it,
whatever the heck is callingcalled.
It has to be shiny.
Your jump boots have to lookgood.
Your name placards have to belevel.
Your haircut got to be tight.
Your uniform has to fit.
You have to have your gig lineand have your dog tags, have
(15:32):
your ID card for whenever theyask you about these things, and
it's just part of just yourpresentation.
If you come in and you presentyourself looking crazy, then
they're going to treat you as ifyou're crazy.
So if you want them to take youseriously, show them that you
put in the work to be takenseriously.
(15:53):
Practice your marching right,your walking right.
Practice it Because when youwalk in there, there's the
infamous robot and I know you'veseen it.
I know you've seen videos.
I know you've seen soldiers Ifyou're an NCO that's done these
mock boards you've seen yoursoldiers walk in and do the
(16:16):
robot with left arm, left legmove, right arm, right leg move.
It just sets you up for a badday.
Understand reporting.
When you walk in sitting withposture, have confidence in what
you do right.
Those are all points thateveryone's looking at.
(16:36):
Right.
When you walk in, walk in likeyou're already the soldier,
slash NCO that they want topromote, soldier that already
won the board, just own it.
It's hard, trust me.
It's hard because we worry, ashumans, about how people
(16:58):
perceive us.
So I know it can be hard but atthe same time, confidence is
key.
The fifth thing I want to talkabout is practice board
etiquette.
So when you get there and it'syour turn, you're on deck and
you're waiting that soldiercomes out and they look at you
(17:20):
like and they do the whole crazything or they say it's not that
bad, it's not that bad,whatever it is that they say
it's your turn, you lock in, youtake your deep breath and you
knock three times boom, boom,boom.
And then you march in smartly,you go directly, you take the
(17:43):
shortest path, stand a few stepsaway from that table and you
say and you come to the positionof attention and you report
Specialist Cruz reports to thepresident of the board, as
directed, as ordered, whateverthe word is, and you don't drop
your salute until they do.
(18:04):
And sometimes they'll messageyou.
I'm not going to lie.
Sometimes they'll message youand they'll just hold it up
there and if you drop it,they're going to a bad day.
It's going to be a bad daybecause now they're going to sit
there and they're going to honein on it, right?
So understand, confidence is key.
Now, a lot of times people sayconfidence is key, as long as
you say something, it works,blah, blah.
(18:26):
They want you to say something,just not nothing.
No, no, confidence is key,meaning that you own, even when
you're wrong, meaning I'll giveyou an example in a second.
But you have to understand thatthe confidence is key term or
the mentality comes from.
They want to know if you canmake a split second decision.
(18:49):
That's it and that's theconfidence.
Are you confident enough to leadyour soldiers down a certain
path when shit hits the fan?
To lead your soldiers down acertain path when shit hits the
fan, next thing you want to dois you want to make eye contact
and you want to address NCOs bytheir proper rank and always say
yes, sergeant Major, no, firstSergeant, sergeant.
The answer is, whatever it is,that it is right.
(19:11):
And if there's a MasterSergeant in there, I don't know
man, there's this unwritten rulethat we call the master
sergeant or mass sergeant,whatever, however way it comes
out of your mouth right here.
Um, just, I would justpersonally, I would just say
master sergeant, whatever it is,because you mess around, you
say yes, sergeant, and they holdyou to that unwritten rule.
(19:35):
You just may have lost theirvote, and whether you're right,
I'd rather be wrong and meet theobjective than be right and not
meet the objective.
So just don't put yourself in acompromising situation.
So if you don't know an answer,I would say me personally.
(19:58):
If you don't know an answer, Iwould say me personally,
sergeant.
I don't know the answer at thistime, but I'll find out, for if
and when the situation mayarise in the future, as a leader
.
That's what I would say.
I'm not going to say thissilliness of I can find it in AR
670-1 and I'll get back to youlater.
(20:19):
Blah, blah, blah.
Why.
Why are you getting back whenthe results are already four
hours ago?
Why do I need to go back andwaste that Sergeant Major's time
, waste that First Sergeant'stime, waste that Platoon
Sergeant's time, whoever's onthe board?
Why do I need to waste theirtime?
So, in my personal opinion, Ithink it's a, it's a setup for,
(20:41):
for, for silliness.
I think it's irrelevant.
I think the best answer to sayin that point is I will find it.
And if you want to say oh yeah,it's in 670-1, I know it's in
there, but I'll look it up forany, I think it's for more for
any future situations that I mayencounter as a leader, that's
it.
I don't need to bring anythingto no.
(21:01):
Sorry, major, I don't want totalk to him.
I only talk to you right nowbecause you're on the board.
Other than that, I don't wantto talk to you.
You know what I mean.
So, number six know your recordsand know your points right.
Be ready to discuss your ACFTor AFT score, whichever one you
(21:22):
have.
Be ready to talk about yourheight and weight, especially if
you're big and bulky, right?
Because some of us you knowwhat I'm saying we're big, like
that, nah, but some people arejust big and their weight is
higher and whatever it is, andthey're going to just talk to
you about crazy stuff.
If you have a profile you awards, education, whatever it is be
(21:43):
ready to talk about it.
And, of course, your leader isgoing to have a, um, a clean
copy of your SRB, uh, sglv,whichever one that they ask for,
but just know your SRB, know it.
And last part of that is knowyour bio.
If you don't know you, how do Iknow you?
(22:07):
And I'll put in the descriptionI'll put a template for a bio
and it's literally like I don'tknow 10 questions or so that
when you answer those questionsin complete sentences, how you
would talk, it will write yourbio for you.
And if there are other ways towrite it, I'm just giving you a
(22:29):
way.
That's it.
I'm just providing you with away on how to write a bio.
That can be some may considerlong, some may consider too
short.
However it may be, use it ifyou want to.
If not, don't, don't make meknow, nevermind, but it's out
there for you.
Number seven you're going tohave to do mock boards, and when
(22:51):
you do mock boards, it createsmore confidence, right?
Ask your leaders to conductmock boards.
Too many leaders that I knowthey're going to say well, I
didn't blah, blah, blah.
Back in my time I studied bymyself blah, blah.
Well, make them, do their job,make them.
Hey, sergeant Cruz, I want amock board Friday at this time.
Can we have it?
(23:12):
Yeah, sure, and then that NCOme, I'll get me two other NCOs
and we'll grill you for about anhour or two or 30 minutes,
whatever it is, and we'll getyou right and we'll continue to
do those.
But you have to apply thepressure.
A lot of leaders are now waytoo relaxed and way too come get
me for my expertise versus justvolunteering it.
(23:35):
Right, and that's going tocreate you practicing under
pressure.
You're going to get bluntfeedback on your bearing, on
your knowledge and on yourappearance.
This is what you want.
This is what the mock boardsare for.
And the next thing, number eight, I think we're at have a why me
(23:56):
statement ready.
Why should we promote you?
That's the question, right.
So be ready for the question.
Why should we select you forsoldier of the month?
Or why should we select you forpromotion?
And make sure that you answerthis question with confidence,
(24:16):
not arrogance, right?
Let me give you an example onhow I would probably answer this
.
So why should we promote you,sergeant?
I take pride in setting thestandards, holding myself and
others accountable andrepresenting my unit with
discipline and professionalism.
I am ready to take on greaterresponsibility.
(24:40):
Short and simple.
What is that?
One run-on sentence, maybe twoat best.
That is it.
You don't have to do too much.
You don't have to do too little.
Straight, sweet and to thepoint, because that's how army
writing is right Clear, conciseand to the point.
And you give them that.
Why should we promote you?
(25:00):
Have your why statement ready.
That's it.
Because they're going to asksome crazy stuff.
And number nine, I would say, iskind of like a bonus Study your
unit's recent events, haverecent events that's going on in
the world in your head, right.
Know your unit's mission, knowtheir recent training
(25:24):
deployments and what theirpriorities are.
And I think it kind ofimpresses them by knowing that
you're plugged in and you'rejust not studying for points.
You're not studying for this,right, and yeah, it's about
showing that you are more thanjust what meets the eye,
(25:46):
understand what's going on inthe world and never give your
opinion.
They won't even put you in thatposition.
I don't think I haven't been ona board.
I haven't boarded or, as aboard member, asked a question.
That's about a personal opinionon things that are maybe going
on, unless it's sports,something light like oh yeah,
the Eagles won the Super Bowl orwhatever it is Right, and then.
(26:09):
And then it'd be like so what'syour team Giants?
Duh, you know what I mean andit and it makes everything
lighthearted.
Just make sure that you justunderstand what's going on in
your footprint and what's goingon around you, because they're
going to probably say take mearound the world in 30 seconds,
take me around the world in 60seconds, and that's your
opportunity to give them yourfeedback.
(26:32):
Now I want to hear from you howdo you study?
How do you help your soldierspass their boards?
Drop your thoughts in thecomments.
Do me a favor like, comment andsubscribe all that cool stuff.
And if you found thisdiscussion insightful, check out
my video right here somewhereon the five traits high-speed
soldiers display.
(26:53):
This is my personal opinion andremember you don't have to
embrace the suck if you got theright tools in your ruck.
I'm Sarn Cruz and I'll see youin the next one.
Peace, roger Sarn.
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