In an article for the Small Wars Journal, David J. Tier writes about the Army’s promotion system and why it needs to change. The Army needs a system that rewards those who perform well, rather than those who are well liked by their bosses. Tier describes the current system as one that places too much power in the hands of an individual’s superiors and hamstrings an officer’s upward mobility if he or she fails to curry favor with superiors.
“The Army must institute an evaluation system that offers promotion boards more information on each candidate’s performance and potential that is independent from the chain of command if the Army is to recapture the confidence it has lost,” Tier writes. “This revised system should lessen the officer’s need to ingratiate, increase objectivity in ratings, and reward performers rather than favorites.”