ARmy Rumour SErvice

Originally Posted by ancient

My SJAR from April 2011 was never written and the Officer who was supposed to write it has moved on within the TA. I am due to go before the board this year but I understand that I cannot be considered for promotion without at least two reporting periods on the system . I have been bleating to my OC about this since November last year, and I'm getting the bum's rush. Should I take it on the chin and wait a year? My ADC contract may well go FTRS later this year , in which case I am stuck in my current rank until the contract ends, losing out financially. Should I go and whinge yet again or should I go to Service complaint? My later SJAR, from a regular unit that I was attached to for a year is excellent, and includes the phrase " promote now ".Any quick constructive advice would be appreciated, I am due to see the OC tomorrow on a separate issue, and it would be a good time to raise the point.

Speak to you chief clerk/PSAO rather than directly to the OC. Depending on your current rank (cant remember which reporting period ends in April off the top of my head) the OC may have no input into it (if you only require a 1RO for example) and more than likely has other things on his mind. In the mean time warn off your Tp Staffy that you need an SJAR writing and they are about to be in the frame for 1RO so they can get a head start.

Chief Clerk will be able to check if theres anything on JPA already that hasnt been submitted to subject for review (easy to do, only takes the 1RO to forget to hit the send to subject button before signing out) in case its something that simple.

Excuse the hurried reply, its Friday afternoon and I'm itching to get out the door. Im sure someone will be along with proper advice shortly.

Yep, as above - just ask the permanent admin staff, they'll have much more visibility. A good number of TA don't even know what JPA is. I get the office to send me SJARs by email and fill them out in word on home computer, and I know a lot of others who do the same.

If you still have contact with your 1RO ask him if he'd be happy to fill it out. He should do it, if he missed it out the first time. Just check it hasn't been done already. Then if he's jack, ask the Pl. Sjt.

Originally Posted by grey_man_2

I get the office to send me SJARs by email and fill them out in word on home computer, and I know a lot of others who do the same.

I take it that you have never read JSP 440?

m-s-r

Originally Posted by ancient

My SJAR from April 2011 was never written and the Officer who was supposed to write it has moved on within the TA. I am due to go before the board this year but I understand that I cannot be considered for promotion without at least two reporting periods on the system . I have been bleating to my OC about this since November last year, and I'm getting the bum's rush. Should I take it on the chin and wait a year? My ADC contract may well go FTRS later this year , in which case I am stuck in my current rank until the contract ends, losing out financially. Should I go and whinge yet again or should I go to Service complaint? My later SJAR, from a regular unit that I was attached to for a year is excellent, and includes the phrase " promote now ".Any quick constructive advice would be appreciated, I am due to see the OC tomorrow on a separate issue, and it would be a good time to raise the point.

You are not the problem here - a poor quality Officer is. Your task is to chase the SJAR and it appears that you have done so. I am suprised that any Sub Unit Comd would dither for months over such a simple matter. That the 1 RO has moved on is neither here nor there, it will still be in their JPA workflow to complete and they have an obligation to do so, a quality OC should never have let it get to this stage and ensured that the 1RO cleared their JPA queues on unit clearance.

Are you prepared to let us know the unit or cap badge?

As I understand it, a significant proportion of Service Complaints ( Staff time lost) is down to poor MS and grown up people are getting pissed off about it. Out of interest, did you get an MPAR, if not, it really is an open goal for a Service Complaint.

Another route is to seek advice from Glasgow - they will not be pleased with the situation ( as you describe it) and may well offer to ring your CoC to clarify matters for them. Ensure that they clearly understand about the board proximity and the potential disadvantage you may suffer. I would strongly advise you to speak to Glasgow, they are generally full of good advice about such matters.

Why should you "take it on the chin", would you "take it on the chin " if an Officer failed to clear a weapon properly and a soldier had an ND, "take it on the chin" if an Officer failed to report an accident and you were blamed? Why should you suffer?

If the "OC" has half a brain, he/she will organise your SJAR pronto before the only "bums rush" they feel is that of their career going through them after a Service Complaint is upheld against them.

Ancient - may I also add that this situation ( as you describe it), presents opportunity.

Let me put on my ( underused) "Cynical Careerist Opportunity Grabbing Tin Foil Hat" - the failure of the 1RO to report in proper time has placed the system under time pressure. In order to correct this, the natural response is to rush something back to you.

This is your opportunity to exploit the situation to your advantage.

Make sure the SJAR is gleaming and that you are the top of your rank in the regiment - prepare yourself now - any weak points, challenge vigorously and fight to get any good points exaggerated. I suspect your 1RO is a junior Officer, they will be under real pressure to get this thing done and so it is the best opportunity to exploit their weakness and disorganisation - the longer this drags on, the worse for them. be prepared however to back it up with "factoids", until they give in.

Call me cynical, but you need to think of number one .......... everyone else is.

Edited to add - document and diarise everything, especially the OC's responses, so email is best - will help the investigating Officer with a timeline and it is always handy to close down an investigation by providing a smoking gun.

Originally Posted by Hootch

Ancient - may I also add that this situation ( as you describe it), presents opportunity.

Let me put on my ( underused) "Cynical Careerist Opportunity Grabbing Tin Foil Hat" - the failure of the 1RO to report in proper time has placed the system under time pressure. In order to correct this, the natural response is to rush something back to you.

This is your opportunity to exploit the situation to your advantage.

Make sure the SJAR is gleaming and that you are the top of your rank in the regiment - prepare yourself now - any weak points, challenge vigorously and fight to get any good points exaggerated. I suspect your 1RO is a junior Officer, they will be under real pressure to get this thing done and so it is the best opportunity to exploit their weakness and disorganisation - the longer this drags on, the worse for them. be prepared however to back it up with "factoids", until they give in.

Call me cynical, but you need to think of number one .......... everyone else is.

Edited to add - document and diarise everything, especially the OC's responses, so email is best - will help the investigating Officer with a timeline and it is always handy to close down an investigation by providing a smoking gun.

Cracking advice - not. A late SJAR does not guarantee you top in rank, nor does it mean that you can demand a gleaming SJAR if you are a tool.

It is late. That needs to be addressed, but it doesn't mean that you have a blank sheet to write our own SJAR.

Originally Posted by msr

I take it that you have never read JSP 440?

m-s-r

Don't bother, read your Unit Security Standing Orders instead. Just ask the Unit Security Officer if you can't find them. (If neither USSOs or a USyO exist then you have a different problem.)

I'd also point out that in the real world the day that TA officers and soldiers stop doing work on their personal computers at home is the day the TA ceases to function. Except for me if anyone asks, honest. Mind you, you could probably just replace TA by Army in the last sentence.

Originally Posted by msr

I take it that you have never read JSP 440?

m-s-r

Nope. Ironic though that on googling it the first result that came up was the Wikileaks download.

On a serious note, I see what you're saying, but it's only to be done via armymail like all vaguely confidential stuff and not kept on the RO's system. If TA personnel were only to operate via DII/JPA for SJARs and email then no work would get done since they quite possibly only have access to it once or twice a week. If workarounds like this didn't exist, then many more SJARs would be late or not done at all.