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August NCO promotions down, but average

There will be 4,361 NCO promotions in August, nearly 1,000 fewer than July, but still an average month for this year.

Cutoff scores and senior NCO sequence numbers issued by the Human Resources Command in mid-July call for 59 advancements to sergeant major, 339 to master sergeant, 907 to sergeant first class, 1,162 to staff sergeant and 1,894 to sergeant.

The sergeant major authorization will reduce the 2007 selection list to fewer than 300 names. A new list compiled by a board that met in June is being processed, and should be released within a few weeks.

The monthly master sergeant total of 339 is the largest for that rank this year, and largest in several years. It will leave 975 names on the 2007, list which originally had 2,721 names.

The number of names remaining on the 2008 sergeant first class list will drop to fewer than 5,000. The 2009 board meets in January and February, which means a new list could be available by early spring.

The authorization for sergeants, just 1,894, is the smallest since May, and an apparent reflection of the health of the Army at the rank of sergeant.

However, there would be more promotions to sergeant if additional soldiers in shortage specialties, called STAR MOS, were on unit selection lists.

As of mid-July there were 10 STAR MOSs for sergeants, most of them in the signal and military intelligence career management fields.

There are 14 STAR MOSs at staff sergeant, most of them from the military intelligence, public affairs and ordnance career management fields.