{"id":20811,"date":"2020-02-03T21:28:40","date_gmt":"2020-02-03T21:28:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2020\/02\/03\/csms-could-be-screened-the-same-way-as-battalion-commanders\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T02:12:39","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T02:12:39","slug":"csms-could-be-screened-the-same-way-as-battalion-commanders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/news\/your-army\/2020\/02\/03\/csms-could-be-screened-the-same-way-as-battalion-commanders\/","title":{"rendered":"CSMs could be screened the same way as battalion commanders"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Army is exploring how to test and screen its command sergeants major in ways that mirror the new Battalion Commander Assessment Program<\/a>, but it would be a few years before the potential changes were made.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sergeant Major of the Army Michael Grinston plans to discuss the initiative this April with enlisted leaders who spent January and early February sitting in on blind boards<\/a>, alongside general officers, during a series of battalion commander assessments at Fort Knox, Kentucky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEach panel has a senior sergeant major,\u201d Grinston said. \u201cThose are the ones sitting on the panels. I\u2019m going to get their feedback, because they\u2019re there for the whole cycle.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grinston spent a day at the new assessment in late January as well, and he liked what he saw.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was kind of excited about the whole program,” he said. “I really liked the cognitive and non-cognitive assessment and the outcomes of that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new program, called BCAP, includes tests for cognitive skills that measure conscious intellectual effort, like memory and reasoning, as well as non-cognitive traits, such as integrity, interpersonal interaction and motivation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s all designed to determine a lieutenant colonel\u2019s fitness for commanding a battalion \u2014 one of the \u201cthe most consequential leaders in the Army,\u201d said Army Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville in late January. Battalion commanders are crucial in determining whether subordinate soldiers will want to continue to serve or not, according to McConville.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
A race against time — Battalion Commander Assessment Program participants must work together to negotiate several obstacles at Alex Field Leader Reaction Course on Day 3 of the Army’s new talent management initiative.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Before BCAP, a board of 25 officers would review 1,000 or more applications with only a few minutes spent on each applicant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, participants spend five days being tested on written and verbal communication, interviewing with behavioral psychologists, and submitting to anonymous panel interviews with senior Army officers, during which an applicant\u2019s personally identifiable information is redacted. The program also collects peer and subordinate assessments for each candidate going back five years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI looked at the assessment and I thought it was very well done,\u201d Grinston said. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t say we would shift away from that. … I couldn\u2019t see us going way off from that in my opinion.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enlisted soldiers are prepared for panels, Grinston added, noting that he was \u201cboarded\u201d as an E-5 and an E-6.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat is the one thing, I think, for the enlisted that we\u2019re kind of accustomed to,\u201d Grinston said. \u201cEven though it\u2019s a blind assessment, it\u2019s still somebody asking you questions and you are required to do a response.”<\/p>\n\n\n\t