Photo By Sgt. Darryl Montgomery | Master Sgt. Marvin B. Morgan, the 504th BfSB EO Advisor and one of the instructors and...... read more read more
FORWARD OPERATING BASE SPIN BOLDAK, Afghanistan – Soldiers from the 504th Battlefield Surveillance Brigade have been attending a class after work for the last 21 days in order to help them improve their GT score.
The class, called the F.A.S.T. (Functional Assessment Skill Test) class, is geared to help soldiers improve their GT scores, according to Master Sgt. Marvin B. Morgan, the 504th BfSB Equal Opportunity Advisor and one of the instructors and organizers of the class at Forward Operating Base Spin Boldak.
“The GT score, out of all the other line scores, is probably the most important,” said Morgan, a Fort Worth, Texas, native, “because it is associated with being able to do many things.”
Some of the things a soldier can expect to learn in the class are paragraph comprehension, vocabulary skills, and mathematical problem-solving skills.
The GT score will decide such things as re-enlistment options, being able to get into certain military schools, and eligibility for officer candidate school. These are just a few examples of the importance of the score being a 110 or above.
“Of the soldiers that we have deployed here in the 504th BfSB,” Morgan said, “we have over 125 soldiers that have a GT score that is below 110.”
“A lot of soldiers were saying that they wanted to re-class to another military occupational specialty or go into a commissioning program,” said Master Sgt. Coretta Richardson, the career counselor for the 504th BfSB and the other instructor and organizer of the course. “That’s when I started to work to get the F.A.S.T. class here.”
“We are the only FOB in Afghanistan that offers this class,” Morgan said.
There was a huge need for it here at Spin Boldak, according to Richardson, an Albuquerque, New Mexico, native.
Morgan said the soldiers in the class have taken four practice tests throughout the course and all have improved on their previous scores.
Soldiers that have priority to attend the 21-day class are those with the lowest GT score, he said. They start with the lowest scores and work their way up to the same level as those with higher scores.
Soldiers interested in attending the class need to get with their first sergeants and express their interest to them, Richardson said. Their first sergeant will need to let her know the interested soldiers’ names so they can be enrolled.
Richardson said on average there are 53 military occupational specialties in the military that or overpopulated right now and soldiers in those fields are, in a sense, stuck, because their GT scores are so low.
“It’s important, because if soldiers are going to be forced out of their current MOS,” she said, “that they have choices, and, that is basically what having a score of 110 does for you.”
Another reason, she continued, is that the minimum qualification for a soldier to become a warrant officer or commissioned officer is a score of 110.
“We have a lot of smart enlisted soldiers that would make great officers,” she said, “but, they face that one little hurdle of getting their GT scores up.”
“I want the soldiers here to know this is available for them,” Richardson said. “The class is here on Spin Boldak and they can be eligible to take it.”
“It is important,” she concluded, “that if you do not have a 110 GT score that you take the F.A.S.T. class whether you do it here or when we redeploy back home. Obtaining a GT score of 110 will help you in the end, whether you are going to stay in the Army or get out.”
| Date Taken: | 10.05.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 10.10.2011 01:22 |
| Story ID: | 78263 |
| Location: | SPIN BOLDAK, AF |
| Web Views: | 416 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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