Photo By Kelly Morris | The U.S. Army Aviation Center of Excellence conducts a Noncommissioned Officer...... read more read more
FORT NOVOSEL, Ala.--The U.S. Army Aviation Center of Excellence and Fort Novosel welcomed more than 50 noncommissioned officers during an induction ceremony hosted by 110th Aviation Brigade at Fort Novosel, Ala., Oct. 10.
The new NCOs represented 110th Aviation Brigade, 1st Aviation Brigade, the Noncommissioned Officer Academy, the 164th Theater Airfield Operations Group, Lyster Army Health Clinic, the U.S. Army Aeromedical Research Laboratory, and U.S. Army Garrison – Fort Novosel.
Command Sgt. Maj. Kirk R. Coley, Army aviation branch command sergeant thanked leaders and guests for attending, and all who had a hand in making the ceremony a success, and congratulated the inductees.
“Standing room only … that’s awesome,” said Coley, as he looked out over the packed crowd gathered at the U.S. Army Aviation Museum.
“We dedicated the last week in September as the Week of the Noncommissioned Officer … to reflect and remind ourselves of all the NCOs who have gone ahead of us who paved the way for the foundation of the profession that we have now that we call the NCO Corps," Coley said.
“It was also an opportunity for us to acknowledge the tremendous impact that all of our NCOs across USAACE and Fort Novosel have on the mission itself, that we have here to train and prepare soldiers for the operational force,” Coley said. “I know commanders that are here in the audience would agree that they would not be able to do their mission without the NCOs who represents the backbone of the mission we have here.”
Coley explained the week of the NCOs was also intended to renew the commitment to “continue the legacy of the NCO corps by doing our part to ensure that Soldiers are ready and respond to the nation’s call whenever that day comes. We know it’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when, that we’ll be called up again.”
Coley introduced the guest speaker, retired Command Sgt. Maj. Otis Smith, who currently works as the chief of the International Military Student Office at Fort Novosel. Coley held up a copy of the book entitled Thunder Run: The Armored Strike to Capture Baghdad by David Zucchino, that Coley said he brought to the ceremony for Smith to sign.
Smith led Soldiers “through some of the toughest conflict of our Army’s history,” Coley said, indicating the initial invasion into Iraq. Smith previously served as Command Sergeant Major of 2d Combat Brigade , 3d Infantry Division during Operation Iraqi Freedom I and the capture of Baghdad on April 7, 2003.
Smith served 34 years as a professional Soldier, and has worked as a Department of the Army civilian for 15 years. His awards include the Distinguished Service Medal, Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star and Meritorious Service Medal.
“I applaud the NCOs who have taken on those tough, demanding assignments, demonstrated your ability to excel, attended the required training schools for your particular (military occupational specialty). You have demonstrated your commitment to excellence and continue to be all that you can be,” Smith said.
Early on, NCOs were warfighters, they were not trained professionally to lead and be involved in operation orders, Smith explained. In the mid-1980s the Army formalized its NCO system, called NCOES, with schools for them to attend.
“That started our role, having us more involved with the way the Army runs and how it works,” he said.
During that same time frame the Army became an all-volunteer force, with emphasis on training and leadership.
Smith said he has seen firsthand that the Army’s noncommissioned officer system is the envy of other nations’ armies.
“You have been empowered to think, act and make decisions on your own and to lead without supervision, and that will come with time,” Smith said.
“As a young NCO today, you will be assuming an awesome responsibility of providing realistic and valuable training to the young Soldiers. They will demand you to teach, coach, counsel, mentor and train them. And when you do that, they will be eternally grateful to you, and they will never forget it,” Smith said.
Smith said the nature of the relationship they formerly had with their peers changes now, as they step up to lead. He recalled some wisdom shared with him years ago: to make decisions not based on relationships but based on what is the right thing to do.
"In the olden days, when you made sergeant, you were moved to another unit,” Smith said. “That kind of voided that personal relationship you had with the Soldiers when you were (a specialist). Things to keep in mind,” he said.
He stressed the importance of working on NCO-officer relationships, as early as in an S-1 or S-3 shop.
“You have to build the team,” he said. “You don’t have to wait until you become a staff sergeant or sergeant first class.”
He also emphasized the importance of their roles within U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command.
“You are relevant. You train those Soldiers that go back out to the FORSCOM units, to the combat units. So what you do is very important, and never forget that,” he said. “When you do your time in TRADOC, then get out to the fighting force.”
Smith recalled a day in April of 2003 when he lost some great Soldiers in Iraq, when they were moving into Baghdad and were hit by enemy missile attack. Smith read from his journal entry written the following day:
“I was amazed at the response by young soldiers and the junior leaders. They provided first aid to casualties and went back into a burning inferno with secondary explosions to attempt to recover more casualties and vehicles,” Smith read, as he listed the names of Soldiers. “Coolness under stress. A trait of a good leader. Coolness to maintain a level head and under combat conditions is a mark of a true, dynamic, professional leader.”
“You play a very important role in our Army,” Smith said to the inductees.
Known as the “backbone of the Army,” NCOs are charged with being competent, accomplishing their mission and ensuring the welfare of their Soldiers. They are to be technically and tactically proficient, and place their Soldiers’ needs above their own.
A narration provided the history and meaning of the noncommissioned officer, including recitations as three candles were ceremonially lit atop large wooden letters that spelled “NCO.”
The inductees recited the NCO Creed as a group, and during the formal induction they individually walked beneath sabers drawn at an archway symbolizing their crossing the threshold from junior enlisted Soldier to NCO.
The ceremony highlighted tradition, the Army Values and leading by example.
A cake cutting and NCO Call were held later that day at The Landing.
| Date Taken: | 10.11.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 10.11.2024 12:51 |
| Story ID: | 482998 |
| Location: | FORT NOVOSEL, ALABAMA, US |
| Web Views: | 32 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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