When it comes to clear opportunities to promote in the secondary zone, the Military Education Promotion Points category is at the top of the list.
Why Military Education Promotion Points?
Facts are on your side! This bucket includes a ton of diversity in terms to how to earn Military Education Promotion Points. This category can earn those recommended for E-5 up to 200-points; and E-6 up to 220 points. Big numbers to take advantage of!
As described in AR 600-8-19 There are three (3) primary subcategories to be familiar with. These include:
- Professional Military Education
- Resident Military Training
- Non-Resident Military Training
Professional Military Education (NCOPDS)
NCOPDS courses such as the Basic Leader Course (BLC) and Advance Leader Course (ALC) are not eligible for promotion points since completion is a requirement in order to be recommended to E-5 and E-6 respectively.
You can still earn points here by achieving commandant list status (20 points) or Distinguished Honor Graduate (40 points).
Don’t cast this opportunity aside because with a little additional focus you can gobble up some quick Military Education Promotion Points and separate yourself from your promotion competition.
>> CLICK HERE FOR FREE ACCESS TO OUR ONLINE PROMOTION POINTS CALCULATOR
Resident Military Training
This bucket sounds a bit vague at first, but once we understand the intent behind it, things become much clearer.
One important note about this subcategory is the max military education promotion points available is 80 for E-5 and 90 for E-6.
This type of training is specifically courses you attend in person, usually away from your current duty station. You earn military education promotion points at the rate of 4-points per week of training. A week is defined as a minimum of 40 training hours.
There’s quite an extensive list of courses that are not creditable for promotion points, here are just a few of these types:
- NCOPDS courses (e.g. BLC and ALC)
- MOS producing courses (e.g. BCT and AIT)
- Badge producing courses (e.g. Airborne School)
Lastly, Ranger, Special Forces, and Sapper qualification course are awarded 40 points each for successful completion.
Be intentional and look for opportunities to attend training that can put some serious points in your pocket. Don’t be shy about asking for opportunities, it’s amazing to me that so few soldiers take this small step that can result in big payoffs!
>> DOWNLOAD OUR FREE PROMOTION POINTS BLUEPRINT FOR EVEN MORE DETAIL
Non-Resident Training
This subcategory of Military Education Points is actually made up of two predominant activities, including:
- Military correspondence courses
- Computer-based training
As mentioned earlier, the non-resident training subcategory also limits points to 80 for E-5 and 90 for E-6. This is something to keep in mind as you load up your registrations with the approved courses in the ATRRS catalog.
The Bottom Line for Military Education Promotion Points
It’s really important that you be intentional about your selections of resident and e-learning courses to go after. Weigh the mental energy and time commitments required versus the payoff in promotion points.
Remember, the goal here is to maximize your points with the minimum effort needed to get promoted to E-5 and E-6 up to 18-months earlier than sitting back and waiting for your career to happen on its own.
CLICK HERE to learn more about promotion requirements to E-5.
CLICK HERE to learn more about promotion requirements to E-6.