ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY

Junior captains will soon have an opportunity to chart their careers up to seven years in advance by opting into a program for the most “highly talented” among them, a senior Army officer said during a virtual event hosted by the Association of the U.S. Army.

A new system called Talent Based Career Alignment will be tested with officers in the Captains Career Courses that begin in late August through early September in the armor, infantry, logistics, air defense artillery and field artillery branches. 

The software tool that drives the Army’s new officer assignment process will be improved and made more “user friendly” before the next round of assignments, the general officers in charge of the program said.

More than half of the officers who participated in the first assignment cycle modeled after a commercial-style marketplace were matched with their top choice, a promising outcome in the Army’s efforts to overhaul the way it manages soldiers’ careers.

The assignment cycle took place through a program called the Army Talent Alignment Process (ATAP), a decentralized market-style hiring system designed to align officers with unit commanders seeking to fill staff positions.

The Army’s company-level leaders work an average of 12.5 hours every day in garrison, which takes a toll on their personal lives and may impact their ability to excel and advance in their careers, according to a new Rand Corp. report.