Web site allows Soldiers to volunteer for 'units of action'
Army News Service
Release Date: 4/28/2004
WASHINGTON (Army News Service, April 28, 2004) -- A new online feature will allow Soldiers to volunteer for "units of action" at Fort Campbell, Ky., and Fort Drum, N.Y., for at least three years beginning May 1.
U.S. Army Human Resources Command, formerly Personnel Command, spent nearly five months developing the Personnel Lifecycle Unit Selection System, known as PLUS2. It was designed to reduce non-volunteer permanent-change-of-station moves and provide an easy method of requesting assignments.
"Our ultimate goal is to give privates straight out of basic training the same ability to request units as officers with several years in service," said Col. Nick Miller, deputy director, Enlisted Personnel Management, HRC.
The 10th Mountain Division, Fort Drum and the 101st Airborne Division, Fort Campbell, will be the first units to use PLUS2. The 3rd Infantry Division, based in Georgia, is already transforming into various units of action. Next in line to use PLUS2 will be select elements of 4th Infantry Division, based at Fort Hood, Texas.
Miller said the system is simple: a Soldier goes to the HRC Web site, and clicks on the PLUS2 logo - a Soldier wearing a Kevlar helmet. The site then offers two options, one for enlisted Soldiers and the other for officers. The officer option will begin May 28.
Soldiers may then fill out the form that follows and submit it as a requisition for assignment or re-assignment to either Fort Drum or Fort Campbell.
"During the first open window period, which is May 1-31, there will be approximately 1,000 requisitions available," said Shannon Brown, a representative for Brig. Gen. Rhett Hernandez, director of the Officer Personnel Management Directorate.
Miller said just because a Soldier submits a requisition through PLUS2, it doesn't mean he or she will be approved automatically.
"An assignment manager will look at the requisition," he said. "If the Soldier meets the qualifications and (the assignment) meets the Soldier's personal development, we will send him an e-mail saying he has been approved."
Soldiers with less than three years of active-duty service remaining must re-enlist or extend to qualify, Miller said.
"In two years, we want every unit of action in the Army to be using PLUS2," Miller said.
As the Army transitions to the new units of action, there will be opportunities for Soldiers to volunteer to stay with, or come to, certain Army divisions, Miller said. If Soldiers want to stay at Drum, they will have a chance to stay there, he said. It's similar to a force-stabilization initiative, he added.
Prior to PLUS2, many soldiers used another online feature, Assignment Satisfaction Key, to request their next duty station. This feature, however, gave only the option of choosing Army posts. PLUS2 is the first online method to offer Soldiers a chance to elect specific units within a post.
Previous methods, such as ASK, will remain available.
"Basically, we want more Soldiers to be where they want to be," Miller said. "There are 74,000 new privates that join the Army every year, so it's impossible now to place every Soldier exactly where they want to be."
To access the feature, visit https://hrc.army.mil.
(Editor's note: This article is a combination of articles submitted by Spc. Wes Landrum, from the 10th Mountain Division and Pfc. Chris Jones, from the 40th Public Affairs Detachment at Fort Campbell, Ky., and compiled by ARNEWS senior correspondent Sgt. 1st Class Marcia Triggs.)
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