How to move from Specialist to Corporal

While earning your hard stripes gets you no more money, it gets you on the bottom rung of the NCO Support Channel.

Detailed in AR 614-200 Assignments, in section 3-14C,

“Commanders (05 and above) may authorize lateral appointment of SPC to CPL without local selection board action provided the Soldier concerned is assigned to an authorized (documented) NCO position in their CPMOS. DA Form 4187 or informal memorandum will be the only announcement of the lateral appointment.”

An authorized (documented) NCO position is listed on the Unit Manning Report (UMR). It, “lists the authorized positions and personnel assets of each permanent party agency. Enlisted soldiers will be assigned to positions on the UMR In Accordance With (IAW) the rules for utilization outlined in AR 600-8-6. All Soldiers will be assigned a paragraph and line number on the UMR.”

Note: CPMOS is Career Program MOS.

As far as I can tell, the UMR is prepared monthly by the unit S1 by the 15th. Training uses this "Alpha Roster" to update records.

If you are a team leader and write monthly counseling reports, those are NCO duties. If you “have soldiers,” you are in a leadership position. If you are the Training NCO and still flying the sham shield, prepare your own 4187 and put it under your sergeant’s nose.

On the DA 4187 in the remarks section:

1. Request Lateral Appointment to Corporal.
2. Date of Rank: (his/her DOR to SPC).
3. Effective date: (date you want the SPC to be a CPL).
4. Justification: List paragraph and line number on Unit Manning Report. However, I wrote, "SOLDIER IS IN A LEADERSHIP POSITION."

CLASS A UNIFORM: UNIT AWARDS

Not sure what to wear on your right side? Don’t worry; your sergeants are probably just as confused. There are two sources for this information. The Department of the Army General Orders (DAGO) come out about once a year and list individual and unit awards. They also make interesting reading on who got their awards taken away. A better source is the U.S. Army Human Resources Command Unit Award section with an Excel spreadsheet and new database searchable by Unit Identification Code (UIC).

DA 31 REQUEST AND AUTHORITY FOR LEAVE—MS Word Version

ED NOTE: Page info re-verified 010133LAPR12 (that's local 1:33 a.m. on April 1, 2012--no joke)

The DA 31 (SEP 93) form, REQUEST AND AUTHORITY FOR LEAVE is available from a number of sources including the U.S. Army Publishing Directorate (your paramount source for official, updated and authenticated FMs, ARs and forms). However, all DA 31s are not created equal and an unofficial Microsoft Word version may be the one you want.

OPTIONS:
GOOD: The U.S. Army Publishing Directorate has a PureEdge (xfdl) and Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) DA 31 available for download. The PDF from APD has no form fields you can fill out rendering it pretty useless unless you have a typewriter. The PureEdge form is superior as you can fill out most fields and digitally sign the document. But you can’t type in the name of the approving authority in block 13.

BETTER: The United States Army Combat Readiness/Safety Center (USACRC) offers a link to a DA 31 PDF after you complete the TRiPS (https://crcapps2.crc.army.mil/ako_auth/trips) online trip-planning tool, Misnamed “DD31.pdf,” it was created when CRC was called “ASMIS-2.” You can fill out the form fields but “you cannot save data typed into this form.” Forget the phone number in block 8, you then get to retype the whole form. Still, not great and there is no field in block 13.

SOMEWHAT BETTER: Type in “da form 31” into Google and up pops “31.dot,” a Microsoft Word DA 31 (with wrong suffix) from USAREUR G1. You can save the data typed into the form and type in the name of the approving authority, but you can’t digitally sign the document. Unfortunately, line 15 is misprinted and should read "EXTENSION"; line 16 is misprinted and should read "RETURN.” It is the same document found on ArmyProperty.com.

THE ONE YOU WANT: Here is a DA31word.doc with the fields fixed. Let me know if there are any issues with this edited version at my civilian address (match AT picketttmedia.com).

FINAL WORD: If the U.S. Army Publishing Directorate offered a PureEdge form with a field in block 13, I would use that one and digitally sign my DA 31s. Until then I will use the one I fixed here.

20120723: For those who need to tinker, use "31" to unlock the form.

POV Risk Assessment (Travel Risk Planning System or TRiPS)

The automated trip planning tool we must complete and show proof of completion in our Leave / Pass packet (and constantly forget the URL). Requires AKO logon.

WEB LINK: https://crcapps2.crc.army.mil/ako_auth/TRiPS/default.aspx

PARENT: https://crc.army.mil/home/