thedrifter
01-29-09, 09:07 AM
Initiative puts spotlight on Army’s NCOs
By Matt Millham, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Thursday, January 29, 2009
KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany — When Command Sgt. Maj. Roger Blackwood and his commander — a two-star general — met with reporters last month after returning from a 15-month deployment to Iraq, Blackwood spent most of the time in the back of the room, leaving the limelight to his boss.
It’s not that Blackwood, the highest-ranking enlisted soldier in the 1st Armored Division, is at all shy.
As a group, Army noncommissioned officers don’t really seek out the spotlight, said Sgt. Maj. Tomas Gonzales, the 21st Theater Sustainment Command’s operations sergeant major.
Now the Army is asking soldiers like them to step forward and take a bow.
Earlier this month, the Army officially dedicated 2009 "The Year of the Noncommissioned Officer," a move that Army leaders hope will direct the attention of ordinary Americans and government officials to the Army’s enlisted leaders.
But it’s more than a spotlight: The effort also includes a number of initiatives intended to expand education, physical and mental health, fitness and leadership opportunities and programs for noncommissioned officers — or NCOs.
"I think it’s the right timing," said Blackwood, who earlier this week attended a meeting of senior enlisted soldiers in Kaiserslautern. "This just kind of, I think, really puts the focus on it and gives it that emphasis to make ourselves better."
Among the initiatives expected to roll out for the year of the NCO are changes to the enlisted leadership course structure, an increase in the number of colleges and universities that offer courses to troops, authorization to wear NCO rank on the beret, and a new NCO management system that will better match enlisted leaders’ capabilities with special duty assignments.
Another initiative, the Army Career Tracker, will give troops the ability track their career progression and information on what they need to do to advance.
The career tracker "is like a virtual counseling packet," said Command Sgt. Maj. Ralph L. Beam, U.S. Army Europe’s command sergeant major.
The system will give leaders the ability to go into their soldiers’ online file and give them advice to keep them on track.
"Now it’s all up to you to sit there and apply yourself to get there," Beam said, "but I can watch you go along."
Another initiative will formalize the Sgt. Audie Murphy and Sgt. Morales clubs — prestigious enlisted organizations whose members have to undergo a rigorous competition to gain acceptance — at the Army level.
While the move could be seen as taking some of the authority for managing the clubs away from enlisted leaders at the installation level, centralizing the organizations will standardize them, according to Blackwood.
The NCO corps needs to change with everything else, he said. "If we didn’t change, we’d still have muskets."
Ellie
By Matt Millham, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Thursday, January 29, 2009
KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany — When Command Sgt. Maj. Roger Blackwood and his commander — a two-star general — met with reporters last month after returning from a 15-month deployment to Iraq, Blackwood spent most of the time in the back of the room, leaving the limelight to his boss.
It’s not that Blackwood, the highest-ranking enlisted soldier in the 1st Armored Division, is at all shy.
As a group, Army noncommissioned officers don’t really seek out the spotlight, said Sgt. Maj. Tomas Gonzales, the 21st Theater Sustainment Command’s operations sergeant major.
Now the Army is asking soldiers like them to step forward and take a bow.
Earlier this month, the Army officially dedicated 2009 "The Year of the Noncommissioned Officer," a move that Army leaders hope will direct the attention of ordinary Americans and government officials to the Army’s enlisted leaders.
But it’s more than a spotlight: The effort also includes a number of initiatives intended to expand education, physical and mental health, fitness and leadership opportunities and programs for noncommissioned officers — or NCOs.
"I think it’s the right timing," said Blackwood, who earlier this week attended a meeting of senior enlisted soldiers in Kaiserslautern. "This just kind of, I think, really puts the focus on it and gives it that emphasis to make ourselves better."
Among the initiatives expected to roll out for the year of the NCO are changes to the enlisted leadership course structure, an increase in the number of colleges and universities that offer courses to troops, authorization to wear NCO rank on the beret, and a new NCO management system that will better match enlisted leaders’ capabilities with special duty assignments.
Another initiative, the Army Career Tracker, will give troops the ability track their career progression and information on what they need to do to advance.
The career tracker "is like a virtual counseling packet," said Command Sgt. Maj. Ralph L. Beam, U.S. Army Europe’s command sergeant major.
The system will give leaders the ability to go into their soldiers’ online file and give them advice to keep them on track.
"Now it’s all up to you to sit there and apply yourself to get there," Beam said, "but I can watch you go along."
Another initiative will formalize the Sgt. Audie Murphy and Sgt. Morales clubs — prestigious enlisted organizations whose members have to undergo a rigorous competition to gain acceptance — at the Army level.
While the move could be seen as taking some of the authority for managing the clubs away from enlisted leaders at the installation level, centralizing the organizations will standardize them, according to Blackwood.
The NCO corps needs to change with everything else, he said. "If we didn’t change, we’d still have muskets."
Ellie