Myself and a supervisor are going out for a soldier/nco of quarter board. I was looking for any helpful advice, and possibly sample quesitions that might be asked, and what people might look for in answers. My soldier oral board topics are as follows,
Equipment Maintence Safety Program Chain of Command First Aid Weapons Current Events Rules of Engagement/Law of War
The NCO Topics are. Equipment maintence Safety Program Chain of Command Leadership Counseling Current Events Rules of Engagement/ Law of War Awards And Decorations.
Any help would be great, as this is our first army board and we are new to this sort of thing, having ony competed in a few boards each and neither were army boards. You see, were both kind of fish out of water here, were both air force, serving under the army, but He's a prior marine, so we are in an interesting situation. Any help would be great.
Well you have an interesting story! My best advice is get an high speed low drag Army nco and just ask him to study with you and help you with all the army lingo.
I've heard Airforce people talk and I just cant understand there lingo! :wink:
almost every NCO who is asking questions for a SOM board will pull them directly from this site, so by studying the questions and answers provided under those topics, you will have a good idea of what they will ask you on the board.
Posts: 1327 | Location: The land of sand | Registered: 09 February 2004
I have a lot of board experience and there are a few things I can tell you. Here is the best advice I can give you; First, while it is important to have a sharp looking uniform and be able to answer a majority of the questions you are asked, one of the most important and often overlooked aspects is your bearing, confidence and overall disposition during the board. If you are confident, speak clearly and consisely, appear relaxed but not sloppy and uncaring and answer the questions directly, you will have much better results from the board members. Some will tell you to rephrase the question back into the answer or to use the "First Sergeant, I do not know the answer to that question but I will research it and find out" line. The board members don't care about that stuff. Speak to them like a person and remember to use proper courtesy. Second, most units have an internal study guide that the board members will favor. don't study more than one hour per night. Any more than that and you will loose interest and any less, you won't learn much. Don't study anything other than current events the night before the board. If you don't know it by then, you won't. All you will do is confuse yourself. Best of luck to you, SFC Steven Stabile P.S. I will be a board member on a Soldier of the month (and NCO) board tomorrow. I have been to 27 boards and sat on about 20 so I know what I am talking about.
From my experience, some of the important things would be:
Know your NCO/soldier's creed good, and be able to speak it out smoothly.
Give a good introduction, tell them why you have the ability to become an NCO.
When I went to the promotion board, I think I can only answer like half of the questions. But I have 147 points out of it, and on the form some 1SGs had commented that I have super introduce and good NCO Creed.
Posts: 15 | Location: Republic of Korea | Registered: 25 May 2004
I'm just wondering if they ask everyone to recite the NCO creed during NCO boards. I just got selected as the NCO of the year for my company, and have to go through the boards in December.
Posts: 6 | Location: VT | Registered: 25 October 2007
In a board anything can be asked. If you're an NCO they will asked questions more on your experience, leadership, counseling, awards and decorations, Army Regulations, and UCMJ. Always be ready for the unexpected. They want to see confident,competent, knowledgable leaders.
I went to the board, and came in 2nd...they said it was a really tough decision. The guy that won was actually an E7 (I'm an E5) and has probably gone to such boards many times in his career...and this was my real first board (other than for soldier of AT..but that was in the field).
Some of the questions they asked that I came remember (I was given the study guide from this website ):
What is the battle load? Three approaches to counseling Name 8 functions of the M16A2 What are the lifesaving steps? How tight should a tourniquet be? Once a unit has masked, who can make the decision to unmask? Which north is used when using a military map? First CSM of the Army.. Immediate effects of a nuclear blast What does the responsibility 'taking care of the soldier' mean?
And for the current events question, the sergeant major asked about the Army-Navy football game that was happening that day..something I had no clue...I thought he was going to ask something political.
Hmm there might have been a couple other ones, but that's all that I can remember. If anyone has any questions about the board, don't hesitate to ask.
Posts: 6 | Location: VT | Registered: 25 October 2007
I studied on all the topics that were given to me via the monthly memo that is sent out to those going to the promotion board. I began studying 3-4 months out as a requirement before going to the prom board i had to go to the soldier of the month board which i won. When it came to the promotion board seriously the only question i was asked was if I had been to any promotion boards before so i answered no and the CSM told me allright thats all i got for you you are good to go. It can go either way really but the bigges thing is to be confident and if you dont know something dont try to pull some BS cause theyve seen it all before. Mock boards help out a lot and you want to go to a SOM before prom board
IMHO, the BEST way to study is to have a study buddy (which you have) and you both quiz each other using the same study guide. This is the method that i use and by the third iteration we seem to know the questions inside and out.
Posts: 43 | Location: Fort Campbell KY | Registered: 01 November 2007
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