Courtesy Photo | Command Sgt. Maj. Patrick Marrill, the command sergeant major of the 405th Army Field...... read more read more
GRAFENWÖHR, Germany – Good leaders understand the importance of passing their knowledge and expertise onto the next generation, and Command Sgt. Maj. Patrick Marrill took the opportunity to do just that when he visited the 7th Army Noncommissioned Officer Academy in Grafenwöhr Jan. 30-31 and served as a guest speaker for the Basic Leader Course, Class 03-25, graduation on his second day there.
“I was truly honored to be asked by the 7th Army Noncommissioned Officer Academy to be the guest speaker, as I think that it is important as a senior NCO to give back your time, energy and resources to the next generation of leaders,” said the command sergeant major of the 405th Army Field Support Brigade.
“It’s important to provide the next generation of leaders with leadership nuggets they can use when they return to their units,” said Marrill, who in addition to speaking at the graduation spent over an hour and a half talking to the BLC students the day prior.
“I talked about things I wish I knew when I was a young leader, and then we had a question-and-answer session where I provided my opinion on different topics pertaining to leadership – sometimes where I got it right and other times when maybe I didn’t,” Marrill said.
Marrill said BLC is crucial to the NCO Corps because it prepares junior leaders for the challenges of training, leading and executing operations at the team level. He said after completion of the 22-day course comprising 169 academic hours, graduates return to their units with a foundational understanding of leadership at the team level.
“But BLC is only a course,” said Marrill. “The true challenge will be when the graduates return to their units and stand in front of their Soldiers. How they execute day-to-day operations and how well they take care of their Soldiers and their Families while simultaneously completing the mission will be the real test.”
According to the Army’s NCO Leadership Center of Excellence website, BLC prepares sergeants, promotable specialists and corporals to lead team-level size units by providing an opportunity to acquire the leader skills, knowledge and experience needed to be successful as NCOs. BLC focuses on things like group dynamics, critical thinking, problem solving, physical readiness training, communications, and training management, and is the foundation for further training and leader development.
For more information on BLC, go to the NCO Leadership Center of Excellence’s webpage at www.ncoworldwide.army.mil/Academics/Basic-Leader-Course. For more information on the 7th Army NCO Academy, go to www.7atc.army.mil/NCOA.
The 405th AFSB is assigned to U.S. Army Sustainment Command and headquartered in Kaiserslautern, Germany. The brigade provides materiel enterprise support to U.S. forces throughout Europe and Africa – providing theater sustainment logistics; synchronizing acquisition, logistics and technology; and leveraging U.S. Army Materiel Command’s materiel enterprise to support joint forces. For more information on the 405th AFSB, visit the official website at www.afsbeurope.army.mil and the official Facebook site at www.facebook.com/405thAFSB.
| Date Taken: | 02.04.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 02.04.2025 08:34 |
| Story ID: | 490034 |
| Location: | GRAFENWOEHR, BAYERN, DE |
| Web Views: | 20 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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