Photo By Jennifer Andersson | Newly promoted Staff Sgt. Benjamin C. Franklin, an air defense tactical operations...... read more read more
KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan – Around the twenty-first of each month, many specialists and sergeants anxiously await the release of promotion cutoff scores.
With the Army downsizing, some of these scores are climbing increasingly higher. In March, cutoff scores for sergeant were at 798 for 53 military occupational specialties.
Recently promoted Staff Sgt. Benjamin C. Franklin knows all too well what it’s like to see 798 as a cutoff score month after month.
On Feb. 1, Franklin became the first non-commissioned officer in his career field to attain the rank of staff sergeant in nearly a year.
“After I went to my first promotion board for staff sergeant, I didn’t even wait for points to come out,” he said. “I knew I wasn’t going to make it.”
Franklin immediately asked his first sergeant, 1st Sgt. Derrick Davis, if he could go back to the board.
“He more demanded it than asked,” Davis said. “I was kind of surprised, because he’s usually pretty quiet.”
Franklin scored a 149 at his first board, which put him at one point shy of the 798 cutoff for 14J, which is an air defense tactical operations center operator and maintainer.
The second time he appeared before the board, he was sponsored by the brigade operations sergeant major.
“I was more worried about letting my sergeant major down than impressing the board,” Franklin said.
“You can’t teach that type of heart or character,” Davis said.
The promotion board is just one of the requirements for promotion. There are a few other requirements that are within the control of the individual soldier to achieve promotion. One of the biggest things soldiers say they have difficulty accomplishing is civilian education.
Despite two back-to-back deployments – a 14-month Iraq tour with the 82nd Airborne Division and a 12-month Afghanistan tour with the 159th Combat Aviation Brigade – Franklin still managed to squeeze in time to earn an associate degree, which maxed out his civilian education points at 100.
“As a Pfc., one of the first things I did when I got to my first duty station is went to the education center,” he said.
It wasn’t easy, but Franklin was determined to get his degree.
“Sergeant Franklin always had his bag and school books with him,” said Chief Warrant Officer 2 Richard C. Lozeau, the air defense command and control systems integrator for the 159th Combat Aviation Brigade and Franklin’s supervisor for this deployment and his previous deployment with the unit. “Whenever he had time, which wasn’t often, he pulled them out.”
Lozeau is one the reasons Franklin worked so hard to reach staff sergeant.
“The minimum requirement to submit a warrant officer packet is that you have to be a staff sergeant,” Franklin explained. “I’ve worked with a couple of warrant officers now, including Mr. Lozeau, and it’s been my goal for the last three years to become one of them.”
Through his current deployment, Franklin has met his last requirement for submitting his warrant officer packet – a letter of recommendation from a chief warrant officer 3 within the career field. But that doesn’t mean he’s going to stop there.
“I don’t need a bachelor degree to become a warrant officer, but I know it will help strengthen my packet,” he said.
That’s a testament to Franklin’s character.
“If I give him a task, he doesn’t want to fail,” Lozeau said. “If the soldiers need an NCO to look up to, he’s definitely the one. He’s not one of those guys to just let things happen; he takes them by the reigns and makes them happen for him.”
Franklin recognizes this attribute in himself, and is quick to offer advice to other soldiers who are where he was just a few months ago.
“Don’t wait for the points to come to you,” he said. “Go after the points.”
| Date Taken: | 03.05.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 03.06.2011 02:17 |
| Story ID: | 66549 |
| Location: | KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, AF |
| Web Views: | 180 |
| Downloads: | 2 |
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