This year is my in-the-zone look for Major and it has made me ask more questions of the current Field Grades (MAJ-LTC) that I work with as it applies to the transition. Mostly how selection for resident ILE/CGSC works? Factors, biases, OER impact, etc. It also gets me thinking about a goal I’ve had for the last nine years, selection for Battalion Command/CSL. How does that work? How does my performance as a past Company Commander and my time as a Major affect that selection? Being a Captain seems less complicated that being a Major, CCC was a simple request through branch, selection for Command was an interview process with the Battalion Commander, it all seemed pretty “plug and play”. Now the control is out of your hands, no one knows what the boards are really looking for, does the type of company you commanded affect what type of XO and Battalion Commander you will be selected to serve in? The timing seems harder to manage, I was proactive and fortunate when it came to Company Command. I made the Captain’s List, sought out available commands at locations that were desirable for my Family and I, submitted my OER/ORB and conducted interviews, then once I was selected to command, CCC and the Company Command course fell into place. No issues. I was commanding a company as a Captain with six months in grade, great right? Now my branch is telling me that the type of Company I commanded will influence the type of Battalion I’ll command? It may also affect what type of units I will be able to serve in as a Major (XO, SPO, BDE S-4)? No one really shares that with you when you’re plotting your career as a new Captain, even when I asked my mentors, I think it was believed that it was so far off. Well the reality is that Captain time goes faster than you think and before you know it you earn that (P) and are competing at the ILE board. Some of the reading I’ve been doing has opened my eyes mostly to how expectations will change. The “Green Notebook” published a two part article that was excellent! You can find it by clicking here:  https://fromthegreennotebook.com/2018/03/01/in-case-you-didnt-know-it-things-are-very-different-now-part-1/

How you dress, how you carry yourself, how you hold yourself accountable, it all changes. No more second chances, the ones you take for granted when you are a Company Grade Officer. You have to be better, employ those ten years of commissioned service experience, and even more people are watching you now. I’ve heard people will expect you to know more, to have the answers, to have mastered staff work, to be able to brief a General Officer. All things that your CGO time may not prepare you for.