[Eire_Banshee]

For those that don't know, Specialist is a rank in the army.

Each of the individuals being promoted are _already psychological operations soldiers_. They are just going from the rank of specialist to sergeant or corporal. This is honestly a non-story. Soldiers are being promoted all the time, this is just a single large ceremony to account for an organizational reshuffle for the PSYOPS corps, Im assuming.

[foxhop]

I think it is a story. The internal reorg and promotion of a huge class of 80+ psyops into leadership is a really good indication that the US army is changing and solidifying their combat strategy.

[sandworm101]

But it is also a statement that the training and skills are being given more respect within the army.

[frickinLasers]

Clearly you haven't read the article. They are all either E-5 or E-6 and being promoted because 'the current rank authorizations were "inadequate to account for Soldiers' extensive training and education in influence theory, human dynamics, psychology, sociology, language, culture, and politics," per the release.'

[ryanmarsh]

Still, the service branches are always shuffling the deck to maintain the appropriate mix of senior and junior service members, especially in the more technical fields (such as psyops). This could represent an uptick in the use of psyops capabilities and the need for additional senior NCO's, or it could reflect a crop of senior NCO's that are retiring and need to be replaced. Sometimes a field can become bottom heavy, thus they reduce the points necessary for promotion (yes they use a point system), and when a field is top heavy they will offer early retirement, re-classing, and other options.