Historically, junior Marines and staff noncommissioned officers both received the same promotion warrant when they moved up a rank.
But a recent panel of senior enlisted Marines found that the identical warrants implied that junior Marines and staff noncommissioned officers have the same roles and responsibilities.
To better clarify those roles, the Marines Corps has released a new staff noncommissioned officer promotion warrant that specifies exactly what the Corps expects from its senior enlisted leaders. The new warrant will be read when a Marine is promoted from any rank between staff sergeant and sergeant major or master gunnery sergeant.
“As a staff noncommissioned officer of Marines, you are a professional at arms, possessing the technical and tactical proficiency, unwavering devotion to duty and complete dedication to the moral and ethical imperatives necessary to accomplish all assigned missions,” the new promotion warrant reads, according to a Marine Corps press release. “You are a guardian of our culture and must be an exemplar who leads with firmness fairness dignity and respect.”
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Master Gunnery Sgt. Chelsea Jones, the Combat Logistics Regiment 17 logistics mobility chief and member of the working group, said “promotion means growth and growth has expectations. The new warrant lays the foundation of that expectation from the day they pin-on and leaves little ambiguity in what they are responsible for as a SNCO.”
The working group worked with the Marine Corps History Division to come up with a truly unique document, according to the press release.
“This warrant is the first of its kind,” Sgt. Maj. Ryan Meltesen, 3rd Marine Logistics Group sergeant major and the working group coordinator, said in the press release. “What we’re reflecting on now is [people whose job is] the profession of arms. [SNCOs] teach, lead and mentor junior Marines, but they also influence and educate officers above them.”
“While merely creating a SNCO promotion warrant may be perceived as elementary, it must be noted that doctrine provides the foundation of a learning culture and, most significantly, the cultivation of critical thinkers within the profession of arms,” he added.
For Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps Troy Black, starting with the basics of doctrine is the key to good leadership.
“Doctrine is a guiding document that outlines expectations, roles, and responsibilities. What the Corps demands of its Marines must start with the lessons learned from nearly two decades of SNCO’s leading and taking on additional roles and responsibilities,” Black said in the release.
