Sergeant Major tackles PME, new career initiatives at symposium

As Sgt. Maj. Ronald Green settles into his new role as the top enlisted Marine, he's planning to fine-tune professional military education and advise leaders about new ways to retain and recruit talent, he said in his first interview with Marine Corps Times since moving to the Pentagon. When the Corps' top enlisted leaders gathered at Quantico last week for the Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps Symposium, fine-tuning professional military education was among the top items on their agenda.

Green The symposium was the first hosted by Sgt. Maj. Ronald Green, who became the Corps' top senior enlisted adviser leader in February, just wrapped up his first Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps Symposium last week. The five-day event brought the top enlisted leaders in the Marine Corps to Quantico, Virginia, through Aug. 14, and and it included a number of features and events personally added by him.

After months of touring the Marine Corps with Commandant Gen. Joseph Dunford and listening to what is on the minds of Marines, Green said he wanted to create a forum for top leaders to address the challenges and opportunities the service faces. He designated one full day of the symposium for working groups, for example, allowing enlisted leaders attendees to workshop and discuss a handful of concepts and initiatives that would shapeing the future of the Marine Corps. 

Now the recommendations from Green and other sergeants major and master gunnery sergeants developed during the event will be sent to the desk of the commandant as they look to help the service prepare for missions and challenges to come. And certain working group topics, like enlisted PME and the books on the Commandant's reading list, dovetail with Green's interests and his experiences from prior commands. The week concluded with recommendations to the commandant on all the topics covered that may be used to hone Marine Corps programs and policies in the future.

Enlisted leaders were The symposium received a briefed about new developments to the Squad Leader Development Program for infantrymen. In order to make the program, which offers promotions, bonuses and its own military occupational specialty, even more attractive to grunts, Marines who developed the program are looking to make the program more flexible and offer even more re-up cash to those accepted into the program next year. 

The sergeants major and master guns also and spent a day discussing how similar exploring ways to adapt similar "talent management programs could be designed for non-infantry fields. 

The idea is to help retain experienced noncommissioned officers after Marine leaders found that there was a shortfall of young leaders. was launched earlier this year for infantrymen in an effort by the commandant to fill shortfalls of mature, trained noncommissioned officers in key leadership roles. It The program remains in the "beta testing" phase on the infantry side, Green said, but officials are already moving forward with ways to apply use the concept to benefit the entire Marine Corps.

The senior enlisted leaders for each element of the Marine air-ground task force discussed the MOSs that are which military occupational specialties from their fields would be best suited for leadership development programs the career development that the program offers, Green said. Certain high-demand, low-density MOSs, like such jobs within cyber operations, he said, seemed an especially good fit, he said for the program.

Ahead of those changes, the sergeants major worked to trouble-shoot any issues that may prevent eligible Marines from completing the required fulfilling the coursework requirement ahead of promotion. Green, who spoke with Marine Corps Times at his office in the Pentagon following the symposium, said he will ould recommend a coding system that would function as a waiver for any Marines unable to who could not complete their resident PME course requirements because of where they were stationed or other factors beyond their control.

Green said they leaders also discussed arranging or facilitating transportation for Marines troops who had to travel to attend their nearest required course. Ultimately, he said, the consensus from the sergeants major was that the Corps is ready to implement the new PME requirements by the October deadline. 

"There are about 42,000 lance corporals, and they need to get some work done," he said. "Since they’re in that pyramid, the base of that pyramid, we don’t see a need to make it any longer."

Titles that came up during the symposium as possible candidates for the list included "The Five Levels of Leadership" by John C. Maxwell; "The Power of Habit" by Charles Duhigg; and "The Rise of ISIS Isis: A Threat We Can't Ignore" by attorney Jay Sekulow.

To get more books on the list, particularly those dealing with broader topics on such as leadership and human nature, Green suggested that a future rearrangement of the list may be in order, with books sorted by leadership "pillars" instead of rank.

"When I was at [I Marine Expeditionary Force] MEF, I took a look at the reading list and I absolutely enjoyed reading warfighting and history," Green said. "My thought was to take a look at the reading list ... [and] was still effective, and it is, to make sure that senior enlisted leaders out there knew that we need to manage this correctly, manage it and make sure everyone’s doing the right thing."

Green practices what he preaches: hHe has instituted an informal book club in his office in which staff members select books to read and discuss at regular intervals. He also regularly exchanges books with Commandant Gen. Joseph Dunford on a variety of topics. 

Green said the sergeants major also examined how troops read and discussed ways to better take advantage of e-reader technology and online formats. The Marine Corps Association now provides unit libraries with 10 ten or more Kindles that Marines can borrow for free, he said. They're also looking to make it easier for Marines to borrow electronic books. 

"Now we’re looking at what books, with the Association, that we can get electronically," Green said. "We think that will induce more reading, because it’s not always convenient to have a paperback," he said.  and you’re carrying everything else in your bag and you want to be able to read while you're riding the Metro home."

Enlisted leaders Working groups also examined a slate of revolutionary changes proposed by personnel proposals "force of the future" changes promoted by Defense Secretary Ash Carter and his personnel chief to recruit and retain troops. They include shaking up promotion boards and traditional military career paths. and best practices for developing Marine Corps leaders.

The sergeants major received briefs on an operational planning team examining possible psychological tests to help better select Marine recruits -- a concept recommended in Dunford's planning guidance -- and talked about how to implement Carter's initiatives, which include proposed changes to promotion boards and more flexible career paths for troops. Green said he and the senior enlisted leaders from across the services were scheduled  of the other armed services were set to meet with Carter in August within the week to discuss the recommendations and examine ways how to apply them to the individual forces.

During the symposium, the sergeants major also received briefs on the possibility of having Marine recruits take an operational planning team examining possible psychological tests — to help better select Marine recruits -- a concept recommended in Dunford's planning guidance. -- and The idea is to help recruiters determine whether prospective Marines are likely to be able to successfully complete an enlistment term.