I’ve been trying to get promoted since February. The process for a Georgia National Guardsman to be promoted is convoluted to say the least.
In our unit, the lynchpin to my achieving the rank of Staff Sergeant is one knowledgeable individual I work with who knows the paperwork involved and which people to lean on to speed up the process (assuming you can call a six-month bureaucratic battle speedy).
This person has been working on my behalf for months now to get a special promotion board convened back in Georgia to consider whether or not I qualify to move up in the rank structure. To say that I get frustrated by the level of incompetence and indifference involved would be a major understatement.
The people in the rear don’t know me. They don’t know whether I am competent. They have no idea whether I can make sound decisions. They have no stake in my life, nor I in theirs. Every piece of documentation they receive is filtered and rewritten multiple times before it reaches the desks of the people who can sign off on a new rank for me.
While these strangers allow my paperwork to grow dusty sitting on their desks, my bottom line is directly impacted thousands of miles away in a war zone. My wife and I are both affected financially by the foot dragging and bureaucracy of this process.
My special board convenes on August 6. I am hopeful that I will be added to the promotion list on that date. Once I make the list my unit can then request my promotion. Perhaps I will leave Iraq a staff sergeant. I’ve met all the requirements and busted my ass for a year now. I’m more than ready. Of all the types of recognition that get doled out by the Army, the only one I crave is rank because rank means financial reward. Awards are great, but they do not pay the bills and they cannot put food on the table for my wife back home.