Thousands of Soldiers to Lose Promotion Eligibility Due To SSD

If you have not been paying attention, the Army is currently pushing everyone to complete the online Self Structured Development Courses. There are four different ones that will need to be completed depending on where you are in your career. Beginning 1 January 2014, E4 promotable will lose their promotable status if SSD 1 is not completed. All other E4s will not be able to attend the promotion board until they also complete SSD1. Staff Sergeants must also complete SSD 1 and SSD 3 before being promoted to Sergeant First Class. Sergeant First Class must complete SSD 1-4 before promoted to Master Sergeant. Master Sergeants must then complete SSD 1-5. There is no SSD 2 online.

If you are currently promotable, make sure you get these completed before 1 January 2013 so that you do not lose promotion eligibility due to SSD. These do take time to complete. SSD 1 is an 80-hour course with four modules. Go to AKO, select “my education” from the drop-down bar under “self-service” then click on the ALMS link in the top right of the page. Search for “self-structured” in the course search and enroll in the appropriate course.

For more information go to the Army’s official reenlistment page at https://www.armyreenlistment.com/ssd.html

The Louisiana National Guard offers some good tips and resources for SSD here.