Photo By Scott Sturkol | Students participate Jan. 31, 2024, in the Fort McCoy Noncommissioned Officer (NCO)...... read more read more
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Every year, thousands of regular Army, Army Reserve, and Army National Guard noncommissioned officers (NCOs) complete some type of training at Fort McCoy through professional development training, career field training, Warrior Skills training, and more. And the installation has supported this effort for decades.
One main institution on Fort McCoy supporting NCOs is the Fort McCoy NCO Academy. There, staff teach hundreds of Army NCOs in the Basic Leader Course and the Battle Staff NCO Course.
In the Basic Leader Course it’s “the first level of leadership course for enlisted Soldiers in the Army,” said course instructor Staff Sgt. Sabrina Magness in a previous news article in February 2024. “And although it’s required, there’s a lot of information that happens here with every new crop of students that I have. I let them know that I think of this course as a leadership conference. So, they’re not just getting downloaded skills from their instructors and small group leaders like myself, they’re also getting a chance to network with each other and just sort of share the skills around that they each have.”
Sgt. David Smith, an Army Reserve Soldier who attended the Basic Leader Course in fiscal year 2024, said all of the training helped him become a better Soldier.
“Being in this course, I’ve learned to become a better leader, become a better listener, and also just become a better team worker as it pertains to leadership in my unit and also in small group units as well,” Smith said. “Being a part of this class is very crucial — not just to being a Soldier, but as an individual as well. I’ve definitely (added) attributes that I can take back to my unit to become more lethal as the Army wants us to become and be able to do the things that’s required of (NCOs).”
Master Sgt. David Shimota, who was course director for the Battle Staff NCO Course in February 2024, said the course is beneficial for all the Soldiers involved because it immerses them in an environment of what a battalion-level battle staff NCO will have to know and contribute in the planning process, and more.
The Army’s NCO Leadership Center of Excellence, available at https://www.ncoworldwide.army.mil, further defines what Soldiers learn while attending the course.
“The Battle Staff NCO Course is 175 total hours, covers 30 lessons with 10 overarching topics throughout the foundations, mission command, military decision-making process, and combined arms rehearsal modules,” a course pamphlet at the website states. “The course provides training that is relevant to missions, duties, and responsibilities assigned to staff NCOs working in battalion and higher positions, both on the battlefield and in garrison environments.”
The Fort McCoy Regional Training Site-Maintenance is also another facility that trains Army NCOs as well as other level Soldiers.
Master Sgt. William Parker, chief instructor for RTS-Maintenance, said, for example, their facility is the only reserve-component installation facility that teaches 89B courses outside of the active component school.
“We’re one of two locations that teach the 89B, so that is uh extremely valuable to us,” Parker said. “That’s something we take pride in. And that course continues to get rewritten, material continues to change, and we’ll continue to implement what equipment and what facilities we have to execute that training.”
Parker added that also to build success in training, they must also make sure students have everything available to be successful.
“Each course that is written is required to have certain equipment to run that course,” Parker said. “So, it is very essential that Soldiers who are coming here to train have the most updated equipment to train on because that’s the equipment they’re going to see when they get back to their units.”
RTS-Maintenance trains thousands of Soldiers every year in the Army’s 91-series MOS as well as the 89B MOS. The unit aligns under the 3rd Brigade (Ordnance), 94th Division of the 80th Training Command, and is centrally located in the cantonment area with an entire complex to hold training.
“Here at RTS-Maintenance, we offer professional military education for noncommissioned officers in the maintenance and munitions MOS’, and that’s from your basic entry or reclassification all the way until your senior levels, such as a senior leaders course,” Parker said.
Army NCOs can also participate in specific field training at the installation. For example, in September 2024, the 649th Regional Support Group of the Army Reserve held a “Defender University” training at Fort McCoy specifically focusing on NCO training.
Command Sgt. Maj. David Sayers, command sergeant major with the 649th, discussed what the training was all about.
“We came up to Fort McCoy to train on skill level 2 and skill level 3 progression in order to develop our Soldiers, specialists, and sergeants for promotion under Army Regulation 600-8-19, Paragraph 3-6, that states all Soldiers must have skill level 2 and skill level 3 proficiency in their digital job book in order to qualify for promotion.”
And that was the basis for Defender University.
“We developed an NCO professional development program called Defender University where we invite our Soldiers to come up and attend and conduct training in four areas, utilizing a round-robin format, as well as build the capability of our NCOs to teach, train, mentor, and instruct from a cadre perspective,” Sayers said.
The command sergeant major further said what they completed was “critical training” for NCOs in the Army Reserve.
“This is something that we need to focus on because skill level one, that lower level, that’s great. Everybody should be able to do that. But to be able to teach and develop skill level two, skill level three — that's that next level. That’s where that NCO learns how to be an NCO, how to run a team, how to manage a squad, how to incorporate those skill level one tasks and build upon them. And these are vital tasks. These are everything from running a casualty collection point to medevac requests to how to teach your unit to put on mop gear properly, how to conduct riot control, and entry control.
“These skills are vital not only for your development, but also for the safety and survivability of your unit,” Sayers said.
Army NCOs also coordinate and lead numerous training efforts at Fort McCoy every month of the year that builds Warrior Skills required by every Soldier. This includes managing weapons qualifications training for tens of thousands of Soldiers every year at McCoy as well as coordinating efforts like the Army Combat Fitness Test and classroom training.
Larry Sharp, chief of the Fort McCoy Directorate of Plans, Training, Mobilization and Security (DPTMS) Training Coordination Branch, said training, for example in fiscal year 2024, also included big exercises supported by NCOs including a Warrior Exercise, Combat Support Training Exercise, Global Medic, Spartan Warrior military police exercise, Mobilization Support Force — Exercise 24, and numerous other training events.
And with Fort McCoy hovering near 100,000 troops training at the installation every year, it’s also fitting that this effort likely mirrors what the Army NCO Creed states.
“No one is more professional than I. I am a noncommissioned officer, a leader of Soldiers,” the creed states. “As a noncommissioned officer, I realize that I am a member of a time honored corps, which is known as ‘The Backbone of the Army.’ I am proud of the Corps of noncommissioned officers and will at all times conduct myself so as to bring credit upon the Corps, the military service and my country regardless of the situation in which I find myself. I will not use my grade or position to attain pleasure, profit, or personal safety.
“Competence is my watchword. My two basic responsibilities will always be uppermost in my mind — accomplishment of my mission and the welfare of my Soldiers. I will strive to remain technically and tactically proficient.”
And in reflection of that, Fort McCoy will continue to be “proficient” in supporting the training efforts of Army NCOs in the future, officials said.
Fort McCoy’s motto is to be the “Total Force Training Center.” Located in the heart of the upper Midwest, Fort McCoy is the only U.S. Army installation in Wisconsin.
The installation has provided support and facilities for the field and classroom training of more than 100,000 military personnel from all services nearly every year since 1984.
Learn more about Fort McCoy online at https://home.army.mil/mccoy, on Facebook by searching “ftmccoy,” on Flickr at https://www.flickr.com/photos/fortmccoywi, on X (formerly Twitter) by searching “usagmccoy,” on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/fortmccoywi, and on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@fortmccoy.
Also try downloading the My Army Post app to your smartphone and set “Fort McCoy” or another installation as your preferred base. Fort McCoy is also part of Army’s Installation Management Command where “We Are The Army’s Home.”
| Date Taken: | 12.02.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 12.02.2024 14:57 |
| Story ID: | 486439 |
| Location: | FORT MCCOY, WISCONSIN, US |
| Web Views: | 9 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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