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It's been a very long time (20 years) since I left active duty, but I didn't test well, particularly on the SKT. In my career field it was 'generic' by necessity, and never once in the nine years I took it did it have anything whatever to do with the equipment I was actually working on, or had ever worked on. To me it was like studying French to get promoted while I was actually reading/speaking Chinese on the job (language reference only for example, not a linguist career field).
In 1997, I had the chance to be on the SKT revision team for my AFSC. Remember those AFSC job surveys we had to make everyone take? Those are used for the SKT revisions.
The subjects of the 100 questions on the SKT had to be in direct proportion to the jobs being done in the field according to those surveys. So if 5% of the people in the field reported on the surveys worked one a particular piece of equipment, then five of the questions on the test had to be about that equipment.
In 1997, I had the chance to be on the SKT revision team for my AFSC. Remember those AFSC job surveys we had to make everyone take? Those are used for the SKT revisions.
The subjects of the 100 questions on the SKT had to be in direct proportion to the jobs being done in the field according to those surveys. So if 5% of the people in the field reported on the surveys worked one a particular piece of equipment, then five of the questions on the test had to be about that equipment.
I left in 1992. Don't remember any surveys.
As a civil service employee, I see an expectation for the active duty folks' job knowledge to be even more broad than it was is the past. Good in theory, but when it comes to testing, Joe Airman is penalized (in my opinion) because his actual job is still likely to be quite specific.
That said, I don't have a better idea. But I still see way too many people who really don't 'perform' on the job getting promoted because they can study and take a test...
As I told my troops: Your job performance is nothing more than what your supervisor says it is.
Or how well he's able to write.
Or whether he loves you enough not to damn you with faint praise.
Be sure to buy knee pads.
Exactly! This is an attempt by The Establishment to select and reward those they perceive as "True Believers simply because they are "True Believers." There was already enough politicking involved in making the Top-2. Now they want it to be The Only Thing for Top-3
As I told my troops: Your job performance is nothing more than what your supervisor says it is.
Or how well he's able to write.
Or whether he loves you enough not to damn you with faint praise.
Be sure to buy knee pads.
Yup, this is the "good ol' boy system" that involves kissing ass and playing politics. Many Air Force members are not happy about this. While they are glad that they no longer have to take the WAPS test (100 question test on AF rules), this is a far worse replacement.
There's countless E6s who now have no chance to make E7 (or E7s testing for E8 or E8s testing for E9) because they refuse to get on their knees.
Your promotion should be within you power, going to a board removes that power and it's now a "beauty pageantt contest." The CMSAF was on a roll but this was a massive blunder.
The US Navy , on the other hand, is in the process of more carefully scrutinizing the advancement of Sr. and Master Chief Petty Officers, E8 and E9. This is part of a wider culling process now taking place in the USN as a whole, which includes commissioned officers.. Day doesn't go bye when Navy Times doesn't include a story about command reliefs, although it never includes the details. It's the Navy's National Enquirer, without the sordid details in many cases (unless there is a Board of Inquiry or a Court Marshall).
One has only to read the details of the Fitzgerald collision to see into the Navy's rapid decline in operational readiness.
The whole 20 yrs I was in doing your job, while usually appreciated by your immediate boss and co-workers, was generally considered by The Establishment to be for Saps. You really needed to be padding your "career."
Knowing your job too well was a waste of time if you wanted to go far.
The Navy went this route a long time ago. E-6 eligible for promotion would take a test. Test would determine if you made the cut to go to a selection board for promotion but your score doesn't factor into it. All it has become is an ass kissing contest for E-6's to make sure they get the top rating from their seniors. Job knowledge is all but forgotten. Now the top rating goes to sailors who do the stupid stuff like organize bake sales and "mentor" sailors in order to get the boss to like them.
Not sure how the USAF is, but I don't even bother asking E-6 and above for information when I need a SME (I'm an Officer in a tech field). I go straight to the E-5s who are senior enough to know what is happening but haven't got the lobotomy yet so they still understand the important technical aspects. Sadly, almost all Senior enlisted in the Navy know almost nothing about their job.
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Not sure how the USAF is, but I don't even bother asking E-6 and above for information when I need a SME (I'm an Officer in a tech field). I go straight to the E-5s who are senior enough to know what is happening but haven't got the lobotomy yet so they still understand the important technical aspects. Sadly, almost all Senior enlisted in the Navy know almost nothing about their job.
Well, to be frank, a senior or chief has been off the line for years and should have been. That senior E-5 or E-6 ought to be the smartest person on the technical aspects of the job.
Now, if you want the job of having the CMC calling you up at 2 am because one of your sailors got into a jam, okay.
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