Artillery branch visits 'Thunder' troops in Korea

Photo By Master Sgt. Brandon Bednarek | Chief Warrant Officer 4 Dennis W. Pelts, branch manager for field artillery warrant officers, opens his brief by addressing current hot topics in the field and what it means for warrant officers while at the Warrior’s Club Feb. 9 at Camp Casey, South Korea. The field artillery branch managers for enlisted, warrant officer and officer assignments visited the 210th Field Artillery Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, Korea’s only field artillery brigade, to provide Soldiers with the most up to date information and allow them to ask individual questions about their careers.  

CAMP CASEY, SOUTH KOREA

02.06.2015

Story by Sgt. Brandon Bednarek 

210th Field Artillery Brigade

CAMP CASEY, South Korea - Artillery Soldiers with the 210th Field Artillery Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division experienced a unique opportunity last week when field artillery branch managers visited Camp Casey Feb. 9-13 to provide an update on the career field and discuss the assignment process.

As part of their three-month tour visiting field artillery Soldiers around the world, the branch managers for enlisted, warrant officer and officer assignments traveled from the Human Resources Command at Fort Knox, Ky., to Korea’s only field artillery brigade.

The trip began with rank-specific group briefings that detailed the current and projected outlooks for the career field. During the brief, branch managers were quick to highlight the reduction of forces within the Army’s ranks has significantly impacted the career for all artillerymen.

With the loss of a brigade combat team in each of the Army’s divisions, coupled with the loss of the firefinder radar operator military occupational specialty, the branch has become over-strength and the amount of authorizations available to troops has diminished as well, said Sgt. 1st Class Shaun A. Fairley, one of several branch managers at the event.

Those two factors make officers and noncommissioned officers increasingly susceptible to the qualitative service program and qualitative management program boards, which are both designed to involuntary separate leaders from service in order to meet force manning requirements, said Fairley.

One of the ways to mitigate the possibility of early separation or career stagnation is to tackle the hard assignments rather than trying to land a duty station of choice, said Chief Warrant Officer 4 Dennis W. Pelts, an artillery branch manager with 24 years of Army experience.

Those hard assignments are synonymous with positions of trust and include recruiting, drill sergeant, Advanced Individual Training platoon sergeant and Reserve Officer Training Candidate instructors, said Fairley. Those positions also happen to be high-demand career-broadening assignments, he said.

To remain competitive for those positions, Soldiers must have motivation to put in the necessary effort on an individual level, said Master Sgt. Rickey G. Jackson, the branch manager for senior enlisted artillery NCOs. That means taking advantage of college courses, primary military education and individual accomplishments like selection into the Sergeant Audie Murphy Club.

“They are looking at the whole [career management field] and they are making cuts,” said Jackson. “You have to do all those things that are going to keep you in the fight. That’s the only way.”

The branch managers also took time to break down the assignment process for Soldiers to clarify confusion and negate any myths they may have. A slide used during the presentation outlined the extensive list of individual criteria used to place a Soldier on assignment, ranging from promotable status, security clearances and time on station.

Some criteria, like Exceptional Family Member Program status, heavily influence the assignment process. As a result, branch managers stressed how important it is that Soldiers keep their information updated and current.

Additionally, the branch managers made themselves available throughout the week for one-on-one appointments with Soldiers to counsel them on developing their individual careers. It also allowed both parties to put a face to a name, said Pelts.

“I never even talked to my branch manager until I was a warrant officer,” he said, admitting there was a significantly different mindset regarding communication with assignment makers when he was ascending through the ranks.

“The interaction with our populace is the key difference,” said Pelts. “It shows them that we’re human and we understand where they are because we’ve been there before. We need that interaction to make sure they’re set up for success.”

While they try to incorporate Soldiers’ individual preferences into the process, troops need to understand the branch manager’s first priorities will always be needs of the Army and progressing Soldiers’ careers, said Fairley.

“If we can be that honest broker and tell them what they need to do to be successful, then that’s what we need to do,” said Pelts.

• Date Taken: 02.06.2015
• Date Posted: 02.17.2015 04:29
• Story ID: 154596
• Location: CAMP CASEY, KR
• Hometown: FORT KNOX, KY, US