Association of the United States Army Day 1 – Sergeant Major of the Army (SMA) Conference
Transcript
Hey, good morning everybody! How we doin’?
[Audience] Good morning.
Is this like a hooah holiday?
[Audience] Hooah!
All right, so how many did the 10 miler yesterday? (audience agreeing) Very good. Give yourself a round of applause. How ’bout it? (clapping) Okay, so, good morning. My name’s Ken Preston, Sergeant Major of the Army, retired. And welcome to this professional development forum. You know, for all the soldiers and the non-commissioned officers that are here this morning, what I want to do is I want to start out and tell you that for the next three days this is a Professional Development Forum, So, I encourage you to pull out your notebooks, pull out your 3×5 cards ’cause you’re gonna see a lot of senior leaders. You know, a lot of folks here talk about the Army and this is an opportunity to hear this morning from some great senior leaders, General Ham, as well as the Sergeant Major of the Army. And you wanna take everything that you’ve gained during the next three days and take that back to your units. And as I always used to say, the knowledge that you gain here is not solely yours to keep, but yours to take and impart unto others in your units and organizations. So, welcome! And our host today for this forum is Sergeant Major of the Army, Michael A Grinston. SMA, thanks very much for being here with us. Round of applause. (clapping and cheering) I also want to recognize the 15th Sergeant Major of the Army, Sergeant Major of the Army, Dan Dailey, that’s here with us. (clapping) We had some international Sergeants Major of the Army I want to recognize as well. We have the Sergeant Major of the Army for the British Army, W01 Regimental Sergeant Major, Gavin Paton. (clapping) This is the first annual meeting here and welcome! Take an hour out of your position. We have the Sergeant Major of the Army for the New Zealand Army, WO1 Regimental Sergeant Major, Clive Douglas. (clapping) SMA, thanks so much! We have the Sergeant Major of the Army for the Republic of Korea Army, Command Sergeant Major Kim. Sergeant Major, where you at? Sergeant Major, thanks very much! (clapping) And I will tell you, too, Command Sergeant Major Kim is also a graduate of Class 51, United States Army Sergeant Major’s Academy. So, Sergeant Major, thanks very much for being here. Do we have any Class 51 graduates left here? (man in audience yells) (laughing) There you go! There’s another one back there as well. We also have the Command Sergeant Major of Land Forces, United Arab Emerites, Command Sergeant Major Hassan. (clapping) Sergeant Major. And also, too, this is a plug for Command Sergeant Major Sellers and the Sergeant Majors Academy. Command Sergeant Major Hassan is also a graduate of the United States Army Sergeant Major’s Academy class 69. And so a very large class. So, do we have any graduates from Class 69 in here? One in the back? Good. So anyway, everyhere you go Sergeant Major, you’re gonna have friends. We have Sergeant Major of the Army William G Bainbridge award recipients here this morning. I know I saw Commander Sergeant Major, retired, Andrew McFowler. Sergeant McFowler in the back. (clapping) We also have Command Sergeant Major, retired, Jimmy Spencer. (clapping) And there are also a number of other non-commissioned officers that are here with us this morning that I want to recognize. And I’ll start first with the 22 non-commissioned officers and soldiers who just competed in the Best Warrior Competition. Gentlemen, thanks very much for being here with us. (clapping) Of course, nobody knows who the NCO Soldier of the Year is. We won’t know that until lunch today. We also have with us the United States Army Drill Sergeant of the Year, Staff Sergeant Earnest J Knight II. (clapping)
[Staff Sergeant Knight] Thanks very much! We have the United States Army recruiter of the year, Staff Sergeant Johnathon E Hagan. (clapping) The United States Army National Guard Recruiting NCO of the Year is not with us here today. He’s off attending a professional development school, which is where he’s supposed to be wen he’s supposed to go to school. But we do want to recognize him and the Army National Guard. So the United States Army National Guard Recruiting NCO of the Year is Sergeant 1st Class Todd Crawford. Give his a round of applause. (clapping) We have the United States Army Reserve Recruiter of the Year, Sergeant 1st Class Jordan S Ferrari. (clapping) Sergeant Ferrari. And we have the regular Army Career Counselor of the Year, Sergeant 1st Class Rolanda Wilder. (clapping) And we have the Active to Reserve component Career Counselor of the Year, Sergeant 1st Class Eric Remmels. (Clapping) Sergeant Remmels thanks very much. So, before I turn the podium over to our host of this year’s annual meeting for the Association United States Army, General Carter Ham. I want to leave you with a few data points. So, seven things for all of you out there taking notes, you can make little notes. Okay, first, you know General Ham enlisted in the Army in 1973. He commanded the 1st Infantry Division. Hooah! I mean if you’re gonna be one, be a big red one, right? Okay, he served as the Commander, United States Army Europe. He also served as the Combatant Commander for United States Africa Command. He spent 38 years in uniform. He retired in 2013. And prior to joining the Association United States Army, General Ham served as the chairman for the National Commission on the Future of the Army. And that was an eight member panel that was selected by Congress to look at the Army force structure, capabilities, and size across all three components of the Army. And I will tell you that General Ham is a muddy boots soldier. He’s one of us. So, ladies and gentlemen, please welcome General Carter Ham! (clapping)
Thanks SMA. You forgot the most important title: I’m a soldier for life, and so are you.
[Audience] Hooah! All right, it’s a good thing. Hey, I am not a graduate of the United States Army Sergeant’s Major Academy Class of nothin’, all right? But I was, when I was a young soldier, I was the driver for my Battalion Command Sergeant Major, so I don’t know if that’s equivalent or not. I’m not quite sure. Welcome for all of you! And Sergeant Major of the Army Preston appropriately recognized all. There’s a reason why this event is the very first official event of the agenda for the Annual Meeting of the Association of the United States Army. Is it because your association, we recognize that excellence begins with non-commissioned officers. And the leaders of non-commissioned are assembled in this room. The future leadership of the senior non-commissioned officers of the Army are gathered here this morning. Our international partners are here. So, we’re ready to get this thing started, but you can’t start it without you. I also recognize that there is a small number of very wise and very astute officers who have snuck in here, all right? ‘Cause they recognize that if you want to hear ground truth, if you want to hear what’s really going on in the Army, right here, this room is the place to be. You’re gonna hear from secretaries, you’re gonna hear from the Chief, you’re gonna hear from Generals and all kinds of people. This is the opportunity to hear from the Sergeant Major of the Army, and that’s a very, very big deal. So, on behalf of all of us at the Association of the United States Army, congratulations for those soldiers and non-commissioned officers of excellence. I know that a little bit nervous for the next couple of hours, but no matter whose name is called, you are all soldiers and non-commissioned officers of excellence. You are the standard bearers of the Army going forward. Heartiest congratulations to all of you! So, as we get ready to kick this thing off, again thanks for joining us this morning. We hope you will find these next few days professionally rewarding, inspirational, educational, but it’s also okay to have a little bit of fun. And we’ll have some of that as we move forward as well. So, again, on behalf of your association, thanks for all that you do for our Army, for our nation, for soldiers, families, veterans, retirees. Thanks for being here this morning. We look forward to a wonderful, wonderful next three days at the Annual meeting of the Association of the United States Army, and I think, now it’s my privilege to turn it over back to the 13th Sergeant Major of the Army, Sergeant Major of the Army retired, Ken Preston. All right? Thank you! (clapping) Okay, General Ham. First, thanks very much. And we greatly appreciate you being here. How about another round of applause for the boss? (clapping) Okay, so before I introduce our host, let me give you a couple of administrative notes so you can write these down as well. So, our next event after this forum, is the opening ceremony which is up in the main ballroom on the third floor of the south convention hall. So this hall here is the north convention hall. When you walk out down that hallway, you’ll cross over the street into the south convention hall. Then up on the third floor in the big ballroom is the opening ceremony. Four Star Command Sergeant Majors can sit with their Commander in the Four Star seating area. All nominative Command Sergeant Majors at the Three Star level and below are welcome to sit with their Commanders or join their peers in the Sergeant Major seating which is up towards the front in the seating area. There’s an area up there for Sergeant Majors. Today, the US Army NCO Soldier of the Year Recognition Luncheon begins at 1230 to 1430, and that’ll be in room 146 , which is, when you go out this door, down the hallway, it’s on the right hand side. Tomorrow morning, Tuesday, the Sergeant Major of the Army’s Professional Development Forum will be held from 0930 to 1100 back here in this room. So, 930 to 1100 tomorrow. So, for everybody, you won’t want to miss that. And we will start the event by doing some recognition for some retention non-commissioned officers, our Strickland and Kilpatrick award recipients. Wednesday morning, there’s a tour of Arlington National Cemetery, the Tomb of the Unknowns, the Stables, and a windshield tour of all the Washington D.C. monuments. For those that go on the tour, I guarantee that you will see far more of the Old Guard and far more of Washington D.C., and Arlington National Cemetery than you will on just a normal tourist. The tour is also scheduled for all of our outstanding and visiting soldiers and guests, the tour will depart from 9th and L street at 0900. Okay, 9th and L, which is out here between the buildings on the right hand side as you’re looking back to the south. The bus will leave at 0900 and return back here no later than 1300. Now, appropriate civilian attire is recommended. I say appropriate civilian attire, you know, slacks and shirt, no t-shirts, no flip flops. Okay, everybody understands, right? No cut off jeans. On your way back please, in the back of the room back there, take a copy of the Sergeant’s Time calendar. This is one of the things we publish every year. And you’ll see in there, there’s quotes from former SMAs, the Senior Command Sergeant Majors in the Army, but it’s a very good document to have. The other thing, too, that’s new is, we’ve published a graphic novel, and there are four Medal of Honor recipients in here that have been identified. It goes from Sergeant Alvin York, Sergeant Audie Murphy. It’s got Master Sergeant, yes, Roy. I was trying to think of the first name. Roy Benavidez, ’cause I know Roy Benavidez. And then of course, Staff Sergeant Sal Guinta. And so those are down at the AUSA pavilion, downstairs on the exhibit hall floor. Please make sure that all your soldiers and everybody are in attendance. And as I look out here into the audience, we’re speaking about Medal of Honor recipients, I wanna welcome Master Sergeant Leroy Petry, here with us this morning. So, Leroy thanks very much! (clapping) And I know that Master Sergeant Petry is gonna stay with us, he’s gonna be here throughout the next couple days, so, you honor us with being here with us this morning. So, thanks very much! So, with that, at this time…
[Audience Member] Alibi!
Alibi.
[Audience Member] Sergeant Bellavia
Oh, we got Sergeant Bellavia. Okay, we got Staff Sergeant David Bellavia. Staff Sergeant Bellavia, please. (clapping) Now, that’s very cool to have two Medal of Honor recipients here with us. Gentlemen, thanks very much for both of you being here. So, with that, at this time, I’m gonna turn it over to our Sergeant Major of the Army. Sergeant Major of the Army Michael A. Grinston. (clapping drowns out speech) Okay, good morning!
[Audience] Good morning! So, here we are and people go, “Hey! “The Sergeant Major of the Army!” And I keep looking, I’m like, “He’s right here.” (laughing) So, I’m really proud to the be the 16th Sergeant Major of the Army, but that kinda explains how I feel. I’m gonna be honest with ya. Every time somebody says the Sergeant Major of the Army, I really do look around for someone else. I’m not saying I’m not proud to be here, it’s that, you know, you’re whole life you watch the Sergeant Majors of the Army, it’s somebody, you know when you’re a young soldier, it’s a picture and hopefully you get to meet one of those. And then as you get older in life, you get to know ’em and they become great friends, and then you never just think that all of a sudden you pop out and you’re that guy. And I will tell ya, it’s a hard competition, and we were talking about it this morning, and you know, we’re talking about people and things, and I said, “Well, there coulda been five other “or four other folks standing right here.” It’s just, we’re just that good in the United States Army that we have four to five Sergeant Majors right now that have the same caliber that I had. And I just say that I’m just kinda lucky that I got this opportunity to be here and I’m proud to say that I’m the 16th Sergeant Major of the Army. (clapping) There are two groups I do wanna, you know… SMA Preston, thank you for having me here. And SMA Dailey, I will thank him for a long time now because I watched him, I watched him be a professional and a person that we can all mirror ourselves by. And you’ve often heard me say there will never be another SMA Dailey, and I truly believe that. There will never be another SMA like Dan Dailey. So, thank you for being a friend and a mentor all these years. But, we also have two Medal of Honor recipients here. So, Leroy Petry, I’ve seen him several times up in Seattle when I was at JBLM, and the newest recipient in this little group here, David Bellavia. Everybody keeps asking me, “Oh, did you know him? “You’re in Division Reg 1. “While you were in Fallujah, I was in Beijing.” And those two didn’t connect. If you were deployed in that period of time, you know it was tough fighing, and it was tough fighting all across the county. And thank you both for being here. So, let’s talk about our great Army. So, first of all, I’m gonna let you know, I’m gonna leave 30 minutes. No matter what I’m talking about I’m gonna stop. I guess now I have 13 minutes. So, I wanna give you 30 minutes to ask questions. I wanna put that right up front. So you get an opportunity to kinda come and ask me questions. You get another opportunity at the Non-Commissioned Officer Professional Leadership Development Forum because those folks, some of them sitting right up here gpnna have the AMC, AFC, FORSCOM, and TRADOC, you’re gonna be on a panel. So, you get another opportunity to ask questions, but I wanna put that up front so you go ahead and think about some really good things you always wanted to know about the Army. Okay, so I say that. So, what I did, I’m gonna show you a few slides. So, the Chief of Staff of the Army said, “Here’s my priorities, here’s where I’m going with the Army.” And what I did, is I took that and said, “Well, okay, how do I operationalize that? “What does that mean? “What’s the meat behind it when we say housing, “and we say fitness, and all these things?” So, you’re gonna see some things. This is where I wanna go with the Army. But this is not the end all, do all. You know, I said I’m the 16th Sergeant Major of the Army, but I’m your Sergeant Major of the Army. So, when you see this and you say, “Aw, you know, I really would like this.” Okay, what I want you to do is send Sergeant Major Jones a note. And then he’ll… No, that was… You guys gotta lighten up, that was actually kinda funny. (laughing) But what I wanna do, is I actually wanna pitch these to ya, but I want your feedback. I really do want your feedback because if I’m the Sergeant Major of the Army, I’m your Sergeant Major of the Army, and then how are we gonna move this forward? Okay, next slide. Okay, we’re gonna start off with, “This is my squad.” So, some people say, “Sergeant Major, that sounds “a lot like not my squad.” It does! So, I wanted to turn it around. And it really hit home when I said… Let’s see, is Brian in here? Sergeant Major Flom? So, Sergeant Major Flom walked up, and I was really thinking about it, and he heard me talking about it, and he’s in the Headquarters, Pentagon. He said, “I wanna come up with something different, “but I wanna turn this on it’s head. “I wanna look at the positive things that happen.” And he walked up and said, “Sergeant Major, what about ‘This is my Squad?'” So, when you talk about somebody, and you see somebody, do you call them, “Ah, that’s the Division Sergeant Major?” Or is that my Division Sergeant Major? That shows ownership, something you’re proud of. You wanna say, “This is my squad. “This is my squad leader and this is my squad “’cause I don’t let anything happen to my squad. “I take care ’em, I train ’em.” So, it’s a concept. It’s something we’re gonna think about. This is gonna be the driving force. And it really is a different way of looking at things. And we gotta do this even in the Pentagon. So, we’re in a meeting. Actually looking at suicide, and what was the first unit we had that we were looking at on suicides? (chuckles) I didn’t say unit. So, it was the unit with the most suicides, right? And then we worked our way down. When you think of “This is my Squad” and you think of something positive, what would you put at the top of that slide?
[Audience Member] (murmers)
Say again?
[Audience Member] The unit with the least.
There you go! The unit… I got coins! Yeah, he said the unit with the least. There you go. Now you’re getting it. You’re getting the idea. You’re getting the thought is that why wouldn’t we have the unit, the brigade, that has no suicides and look at what they’re doing to build a cohesive team that says, “This is my squad, and I’m not “gonna have anything happen to them.” So you understand, that’s where I’m going with that. We got a lot a work to do on that. But when you say that, I want you to think, “Is this my squad? “Am I building a cohesive team with that? “And what are the positive aspects “that I can reinforce that every organization needs to have?” This is my squad. Okay, next. Sorry, go back. We might not ever get to the Pass the Flag one. Okay, so, the next topic right up here, is I really wanna focus in on the Mid-grade NCOs. I think we’ve done a great job with OSUT. 22 weeks for 11 bravos. We’re goin’ there with some 19 kilos, 19 deltas, but I really need to focus in on the Sergeant, Staff Sergeant, and Sergeant 1st Class. And out of those, it’s the Staff Sergeant. Staff Sergeants are the ones we need to be Drill Sergeants, we need you to be recruiters, we need you, you know, in abundance for SFABs, we gotta build. Everything almost hinges on the Staff Sergeant. That’s why I go back to topic number one. This is my squad. What are the positive aspects that we can get a Staff Sergeant at the appropriate level to have a great, cohesive team? And you’re gonna hear the Chief talk about cohesive teams. And that’s where I’m gonna focus in on. What can we do to give ’em stabilization? What can we do to have ’em in their units be a master of their craft at that level, at the Sergeant, Staff Sergeant, Sergeant 1st Class? And we’re looking at one of those things right there. It’s the Y MAC code. So, can we stabilize ’em? It’s kinda like adirose. Like, hey! Are you on station long enough, in grade to be an expert at your job? So, if you’re a Sergeant and you get promoted to Staff Sergeant and then eight months later you’re PCS to be a Drill Sergeant, recruiter, SFAB, or something else, did we actually give you time in grade as a Staff Sergeant to be a master of your trade? We’re trying to look at that, see if maybe we can keep ’em in there, in that job, in the skill set, for two years. So, then when you go out and you get two years of Drill Sergeant and you make Sergeant 1st Class, you’ve already been grounded in the fundamentals at your job. Most everybody on this front row were grounded in their skill set at the Staff Sergeant level. They were experts as an Infantryman, as an Aviator, as a Logistician. They did all these things and they got that foundation at the Staff Sergeant. And how can we bring that back? We’re looking at that, so stabilization codes. Next slide. There you go. Okay, we’re gonna award some Expert Soldiers Badge. I have really been championing this for like, two to three years now, and I told those soldiers about three years ago, I said, “I promise when we do this “I’m gonna be there to pin it on!” I just didn’t know I was gonna get to be the SMA when we were gonna do it today. So, I’m really proud that we actually got this done, we got it through. This is good for our Army. I pitched this a couple times when I was at the Pre-command course, and somebody said, “Sergeant Major, “we don’t have time to do that.” I said, “Okay, you don’t have time to do this, right? “I just wanna make sure you understand “that here we are, we’re in combat, you got shot, “you’re leg is bleeding, and the soldier “that runs up to you doesn’t know how “to put on a tourniquet. “So I just wanna make sure you’re okay with that.” Those are the tasks for Expert Soldier Badge. So where are your task and battle drills? It’s not how to rig a T-10, T-11 parachute, you know, we’re not doing anything exciting. It’s the warrior task and battle drills and can you master those so when you run up, your Battalion Commander’s kinda bleeding a little bit, you put that tourniquet on and everything’s gonna be okay. So, I think we have to have time to work on Expert Soldier Badge. I think 7th ID beats CIMT to the punch. I think they’re running that right now. Oh, he’s like, “Sergeant Major, haha.
[Audience Member] It’s a collaboration. It’s a collaboration. Okay, I got it! So, there’s two running right now?
[Audience Member] Yes.
Yes, right, yes! So, Sergeant Major Missile doesn’t want to be beat now. Okay, I’m with ya. Okay, so 7th ID and CIMT running one of those right now. So, really appreciate when you get back to your units if you’re a soldier in here, you should say, “Hey, when are we gonna do our Expert Soldier Badge?” If you’re a brigade or division or Corp Sergeant Major in here, make sure when you get to those readiness briefings, those training meetings, that you pad those things on there before you get to the big stuff. If you’re not grounded in the fundamentals, you know, are we really gonna be ready for that actual combat? There’s a bunch of other things on that topic, on that slide. If you get a chance, look at that. We’re still working on this change to AR 600-20. And if you’ve even been close to me in the last couple years about NCO authority, we gotta get our policies to match what our NCOs are doing. And we gotta make sure that we empower you. That you’re not afraid to take some action. I want you to be able to go up, you see something wrong, and you go, “Stop what you’re doing!” And you don’t have to look over your shoulder because the policies match your actions. That you have the ability to do some corrective action. I’m not talking hazing and bullying. I’m not saying go out there and have somebody, you know, hanging upside down in a tree for like four hours or anything like that ’cause we don’t do that anymore. But I want you to get the little things right, to be able to be comfortable to walk up and say, “Stop that.” And then I got your back ’cause it’s written in policy. And we’re working hard to get that changed. A little change to the 600-20 says it’s okay for you to take some corrective action. It says it’s in there, but I wanna get a little bit more specificity for the NCOs so you understand that you’re not afraid to go out. And you don’t have to look over your shoulder to do some action. ‘Cause we have to have you to do that. When you’re in combat, you can’t look over your shoulder, “Oh, wait! “I think I need to assault that up.” So, we gotta get ya the practice on that before you get there. Okay. And the ACFT, seems to be a great topic lately. Yeah! Everybody loves the ACFT! I really like the ACFT. It’s good for the Army. It is really good for the Army. It’s hard! It’s really hard, but guess what? We got two soldiers in here right now that maxed it. Go ahead and stand up. Whacha got? (clapping) Go have a seat. And I was talkin’ to ’em. You know, you just had to change how you’re doing things a little bit. You didn’t have to, you know, “Well, Sergeant Major, I had to do this or that.” You didn’t. That’s why I really like about the ACFT. You can’t just come in and just go, “This is what I’ve done in the past, “and it’s not gonna work on this ACFT.” It’s just not. That’s the whole reason we changed the Combat Fitness Test. We changed the PT manual, like, 15 years ago, and then we still had units doing the exact same thing because we never changed the test. Like all the things you need to do to get ready for the ACFT are in the manual. They’ve been in there, we just weren’t doing ’em ’cause we didn’t’ change the test. They should’ve set us right. So, you’re now gonna have to work at this. And some might say, “Well, I posted my latest ACFT card.” But what I didn’t post, and I wish I woulda, is, like, two years ago or a year and a half, I put one together at FORSCOM and I promise it was no where near the score that I got about two weeks ago. It wasn’t even close! But what I did, we had to train. I had to do dead lift. I promise you I could not lift over 135 pounds the first time I did the first dead lift. It was like, eh, okay, well I gotta work on that. But I had to work on it and you can do it. So, if you’re out there and you was like, “Ah, this is terrible! “I can’t do it!” I go, “Hey, did you try it? “Have you actually taken the ACFT? “Have you ever did a dead lift in your life?” “Oh, no, Sergeant Major.” “Okay, well there you go!” If you keep saying, “I can’t do it,” then you’re not thinking about “This is my Squad” ’cause in my squad, we can do anything. We can do it if I take the time to train for it. Okay. The second piece I do want to talk about very quickly is nutrition. I think a lot of times we talk about the physical fitness, but we also hafta look at how we’re gonna fuel that. Sometimes I say you can ruin a good workout by what you eat. So, right after the run some soldiers sitting there, he’s running 10 miles and he’s choking on two muffins as we’re going there. I was like, “Well, all those calories you burned “on that 10 mile run are right there “in those two muffins right there.” So, we have to look at how we fuel the body, and how we train the body to become more efficient, and we may need to change how we look at our dining facilities. We’ve been doing that. We’ve been Go for Green, the healthy food initiatives, but I wanna even take this further. So, we’ve got dieticians. We’re trying to get those out to every brigade in the Army so that you know what you should be fueled with. We’re trying to get an app so when you go in there, and not just have red, you know, you got the red is bad for ya, and the green is good for ya, and it’s on a little label. You should be able to come in and say, “Okay, today I’m gonna have some chicken. “I’m gonna have this and this. “And based off of how I exercised, “and this diet, what is that gonna do? “Is that the proper fueling that I need “to make myself healthy?” So, those are some of the things we’re looking at. Not just we’re getting better food in the DFACs, but also looking at other ways we can do that. Okay, next slide. We’ve heard the Chief of Staff. If you haven’t heard him lately, and you know it’s been a couple months, you know he says, “People first.” And then he has these five qualities of life and issues. I’m focusing on all of these. None are more important than the others. I promise. But there are two that I really want to focus in on. We had a lot of attention on the family housing. I’m putting a lot of attention on the barracks. So, if I come to your camp post station, I promise you, I am going to walk through your barracks. It’s gonna happen. You’re gonna try to get me to go to one direction, and I’m probably gonna go in any direction that I want. It’s gonna happen. “Staff Sergeant, yeah Sergeant Major let’s go over here.” And I’ll say, “Okay, that’s awesome.” I may actually walk there for about one second, and then we’re gonna go to somewhere else. We have to look at our barracks, and we gotta make sure the barracks ratings match what our soldiers are living in. If they don’t, then I need to know that so we can get the money to make our barracks better. If we don’t have the ratings right, that’s all we see is oh, the barracks are good, they’re Q1. You go in there and there’s a big hole in the bathroom and the roof. Like, well, it’s a Q1 rated barracks, so therefore, why would we put more money in that barracks? It doesn’t make sense. So, we gotta make sure of the ratings. That’s why I’m walking in the barracks, to make sure. Are we headed in the right direction in the army? Okay? Housing. And it’s all housing. So, I’m just telling you about the one piece I’m gonna really focus in on. And the last one on there is the PCS moves. TRANSCOM United States Army TRANSCOM is doing a great job. The Chief of Staff, we’re trying to get all things put it under one umbrella. We’re gonna talk a lot about that at the family forum, but there’s a couple things you worry about when you move, right? It’s like schools, your housing, and then, “Am I gonna get my stuff? “And then get to work.” If I can’t get my stuff and get to work, that’s all I worry about. I say, “Okay, my kid’s in school. “Do I have a place to live and did I get my stuff?” Then after that, that’s how we take care of soldiers and we get ’em to work. So, those two: barracks, a place to live, and then the PCS moves. And then there’s some other things in there. And then I said I promise I was gonna cut it off. You look at that. Next slide, see if there’s anything else? There you go. This is some of the things we’re gonna look at. NCO talent management. We just took our first board. SMA Dailey talked about this for about a year. Just had the first board where we actually ranked ordered ’em by talent. Not by time in service, not by time in grade. It’s ranked by are you’re records the best? Then you’re number one. And that board just happened. Okay? A couple other things we’re gonna work on there. And last on there, if you haven’t looked at the cross functional team Soldier Lethality. That’s a big focus. And that goes back to the Expert Soldier Badge. Are we lethal? And how do we measure lethality? So, if you look at it, we hadn’t actually measured lethality. There’s no rating. There’s no code. We’re actually trying to assign a rating and a code to soldier lethality. And they’re doing that through the Soldier Performance Model. And what we did for the Best Warrior Competition, they got these little dots and badges on ’em, and they got cool watches that kinda measured their heart rate, and we were gonna see if these are the best soldiers we have, again thinking positive, how can we take that metric and then make more of those? So, we looked at all the things that they did. We’re gonna try to measure that. And then if we can quantify that. Then if we know if you’re not meeting that, then what do we need to do to get ya to that level, that you’re the same level of fitness and proficiency as the best warriors, okay? We did a little study even within the Best Warrior Competition. Next. There you go. And there’s a quote, all right? I went like six minutes too long. We got 24 minutes that I’ve left for questions, and then I’ll stand here. Again, I am really proud to be your Sergeant Major of the Army and I appreciate you taking the time to listen to a little bit of the initiatives. And I really wanted to save some time for questions. So, let’s go. Or we just stand here. There’s always gotta be the first one. So we got two. Whatcha got Sergeant Major?
[Audience Member] (speaking in the distance)
I think we are streaming live so they probably want you to use a microphone so that the people around the world can hear your question. No pressure. (tapping on microphone)
It’s live, go ahead.
Sergeant Major, we talk about lethality and all that stuff, especially in the soft skill MOSs, signal, ordinance, and all that stuff. What is the possibility of bringing something like MCT into the force, Marine Combat Training, to build up that lethality within the soft skills and not just the Infantry and Combat Arms?
Yeah, the Marine Combat.
Right after bootcamp, they go to do three weeks of straight infantry training, then they go on to their MOS school, Sergeant Major.
Okay, is that something you wanna do?
I think it would help out, ’cause as a signal leader rarely do I do warrior tests and battle drill, Sergeant Major.
Okay. Yeah, we’re not gonna do that probably, at all. (laughing) Okay, so, number one: that’s why I was talking about the Expert Soldier Badge. ‘Cause I’ll be able to know what units.. First of all, I’m not sure about this whole soft skill/hard skill thing. Here’s what I do know: in combat, everybody fights.
Yes, Sergeant Major.
So, a soldier even though, “Sergeant Major, “if I got one of those MOSs that doesn’t go to combat or, you know…” I’m like, “Are you in the U.S. Army?” I’m like, “I don’t know! “When it says U.S. Army, that means we all go somewhere. “We don’t have that job that nobody goes anywhere.” “But Sergeant Major, I work in a hospital.” Gotta lot of hospitals in combat. What if you got put out of one of those COBs, where all of a sudden people were overrunning that, or running around? Would you wanna be able to take out your rifle and shoot back? I’m assuming yes. So, I don’t understand sometimes people think that I’ve watched a lot of MOS that didn’t’ think they were gonna be right there. All of a sudden they were right there, and they were really hoping they’d probably done some of those things on the Expert Soldier Badge. So, that’s what we’re talking about. So, we’re not gonna make three more weeks. That comes at a cost. You can’t just add three weeks to anything without a cost. And I’m not talking about the money cost, it’s the time cost. ‘Cause you want medics, you want more 42s, you want all those in your units. Well, soon as we make it three weeks longer, those are hundreds of soldiers that are not gonna be in your units for three more weeks. So, we’re probably not gonna do that. But the answer to that is that everybody should be going through and getting the opportunity to do the Expert Soldier Badge. And the other thing that was on there, was bring back, a lot of people call it Soldier’s Time, but it’s Leader Training Time. It was on the slide. And that’s where you get an opportunity to do that. If we can slow down, and I’d say it’s by installation, the Senior Mission Command Installation says, “Okay, we’re gonna do it this day.” And it’s not exactly for al the combat MOSs. I expect an Infantry soldier to be doing those tasks all day. It’s so the Infantry soldier doesn’t go to the PAC office, to the S1 and go, “Hey, while they’re “doing their Sergeant’s Time Training…” That you don’t go and interrupt that. So we can kinda normalize that. That’s the whole premise behind that Leader’s Training Time or Sergeant’s Time Training. So that everybody gets an opportunity to actually focus in on some of those things you just haven’t done in a while. And then at the end of that you do an Expert Soldier Badge. Okay? And the plan is to do that by installation. The hard part is COMPO 2 and 3. How do we do Sergeant’s Time when you only get one weekend a month? And I’m still working, I dunno if John Sampa is in here, or Sergeant Major Sampa, is how do we get that? Do we get four hours every six months or once a year? I’m not sure. But that’s the hard part is how do we get some Leadership Time Training and Expert Soldier Badge for our COMPO 2 and 3 folks? Thank you. Okay, next question.
Sergeant Major, SMA, good morning to all the NCOs as well. My question is in reference to the Soldier for Life Transition Assistance Program. I’m very passionate about it, but I saw on your slide that you wanna break ’em apart and do stand alones for each one. Could you go into just a little bit more detail on that Sergeant Major?
Yeah, sure. So, it’s just the naming. On the other side, I don’t wanna break it apart. I want you to think “Soldier for Life.” And then there’s a subset of that, that’s the Transition Assistance Program. But right now, sometimes when I say “Soldier for Life,” what do you think? I think transition. It’s two different things! When you join the military, right after that day, you’re a soldier for life. That’s it! I want you to think like that every day. You heard Joe Ham. He said, “I’m a soldier for life.” We all got really cool titles, right? You get the Sergeant Major of the Army. That’s not my favorite title by the way. It’s still Alexandra’s husband, and Sophia and Isabella’s dad. Those are my two favorite titles. But one of those good titles would be Soldier for Life. And I want ya all to have something like that. So when you come in, you get a soldier for life . And I don’t want ya to think that, “I’m getting outta the army,” immediately, as soon as you hear “Soldier for Life.” That’s kinda what I’m trying to think. If I say “Transition Assistance Program,” I’m transitioning and not think that it’s not part of being a soldier for life. I want you to be a soldier for life, and that carries from the day you join the army to the day you die. Period. And then a subset of that is transitioning. Does that make sense? I’m not gonna try to break anything, change it up. I just take the two different words. To me, it’s two different meanings. Does that answer it? Good. What else? It’s like the quietest group ever. Yes. The whole Division Center. I thought this would be like beat down SMA Grinston moment.
Hey.
Okay. (tapping on microphone)
Hey, SMA, one question. Since you talking about that Army Combat fitness test, the Army Combat Fitness Test, and we looking at all of the 60 some policies that has to change, can you talk about how that affects when you start looking at promotion. And what’s some of your thoughts about how we want to look at the promotion system when you start looking for Specialists going to Sergeant and Sergeant going to Staff Sergeant?
Yes. That’s usually the big one So, we talked about this. I’ve got a couple courses of action on how we’re gonna look at this. And I haven’t gotten to the final version of it yet. So, but I have two to three versions. Right now, I believe I may not have the exact number, 180 points for when you go though the Fitness Test. You get max, you get 180, if you get some number lower than that. Is that about right? You maxed it? Somebody? Okay, so 180 promotion points. So, one of the courses of action would be to lower that, and then I wanna increase Professional Military Education or maybe you get more points if you go to a Professional Military Education. So, if I go to Reg School, maybe I’ll get more promotion points. Because right now, the APFT is extremely weighted on your promotion points. 180 points, you know, that’s a pretty big chunk. So we’re looking at to kinda take that down and then maybe give you more points if you score expert with your rifle. ‘Cause that’s soldier lethality. So that if I don’t score really high on the ACFT, you get to stay in the Army ’cause you passed it and that’ll be good. If everybody in the Army passes the ACFT, that’s gonna be really good. But, we don’t wanna weight it so much and then take some of that down and give some more promotion points to those things that make you still lethal. Weapons Qualifications, extremely lethal. Why don’t we make that? And if you get higher on that, you’re gonna get more points. So, that’s one of the things that we’re looking at. That’s one course of action. One course of action, somebody said, “We’re gonna make it “go or no go on the ACFT.” And that’s one of the things we’re gonna look at. But right now, I think reducing the promotion points, that’s one of the courses of action that I’m in favor of. But, that doesn’t mean that’s what we’re gonna go with. But that’s how we’re looking to change it. And that’s the big point, is from Specialist to Sergeant, and from Sergeant to Staff Sergeant, because promotion points matter. Okay, then after that you’re NCOER but you still have to be fit. You gotta pass the ACFT. Okay, does that answer your question? Good, next. Yes. Sergeant?
That’s me, good morning.
Good morning.
You spoke about broadening assignments and the importance of that for the mid-level NCOs. As a National Guardsman, we have a much smaller pool of those kinds of broadening assignments available to us, largely because it’s very difficult for us to work with the other components at that kind of level. Are there any initiatives to kind of expand the ability of National Guardsmen and Reservists to have those kinds of broadening assignments?
Right now, no. And this goes to all COMPOs, I want you to be a master of your MOS, and then think broadening. You’re number one thing that I would like you all at the Sergeant, Staff Sergeant, and Sergeant 1st Class level is think, “Do I know my skill so well that I can “go do a broadening assignment?” Don’t think, “Oh, I did my two years, “now I can go do a broadening assignment.” I want you to master. We’re gonna need you. I really want you at the Staff Sergeant level to be broadened. However, not to the determent of knowing your skills so well that’s is just time for you, you can go do something else. So, right now, there’s plenty of opportunities for broadening at all levels. I just looked at the OCLL fellowship, so we’ve got Master Sergeants in Congress. They go get a masters degree. Did you know that? He’s like, “Sergeant Major, I didn’t know we had that.” Yeah! You can go get your masters degree at George Washington? Yeah, you go to George Washington, get your masters degree for a Master Sergeant and you gotta go work on Capitol Hill for two years. So, there’s plenty of opportunities for broadening. And, matter of fact, one of the soldiers that are with me is an active guard, a National Guard soldier. So, that’s another one. If you wanna come work for me, let me know. So, I think there’s plenty of opportunities for broadening assignments for all COMPOs. Right now, my plan is not to expand that, because every time we say, “Hey, that’s “gonna be something we’re gonna do.” I don’t wanna make sure that that does not take away from you having time to master your trade, and your job, and your career field.
Thank you, Sergeant Major.
Probably not the answer you want, but that’s the answer that I have. Yes? Anyone else? No Division Sergeant Major? Nothing? Okay, going once. Going twice. Okay, so, I’ll give you a little bit of your time back. I really wanna say I really appreciate you taking the opportunity to be here today. And I wanna actually thank General Ham. I know he kinda ran off. He didn’t run off, he’s got a lot of things to do with our opening ceremony. But think about the importance of our Army. I mean, in what other Army around the world, would a retired Four-Star General come to the NCO Professional Development Forum as the first event of the day? And with every Four Star GO active in the Army is probably in the building, around here somewhere. The Chief of Staff, the Secretary of the Army, and General Ham comes and says, “I just wanna thank you all for coming to this forum?” I think that says the faith that our officers have in our NCOs. We have the greatest Non-Commissioned Officer Corps in the world. That’s just kinda the way I believe, and I know it to be true to my heart. But we have that, let’s not forget we also have the faith and the confidence of our Officers in order to give us the authority that we need to do those things that I talked about in those initiatives. Without that, we wouldn’t be able to achieve anything. And so, the greatest part of this is that we don’t wanna lose the confidence that our officers have in us that they can turn and say, “Hey! “I just want you to take care of this.” And then they go walk away and they have faith that you can actually do that action. And they give you full authority. You can hire, you can fire, you can do this, and move these people around for this location to that location. You get it done, and then they can focus in on the strategic things and getting everything that they need to do. That’s why some of the things that I put on that initiatives are so important that we gotta get that right, ’cause we don’t wanna lose the trust and confidence in our Officer Corps. And, more importantly, as and Army, we don’t wanna lose the faith and confidence of the American people, that we know exactly what we’re doing. And, when they call on us, and they say “The United States Army,” they know we’re gonna go there, we’re gonna be there, and we’re gonna win! And we don’t wanna lose that confidence in our Officer Corps, and we don’t wanna lose the faith of the American people. And that’s why we do what we do, and I’m proud to be the 16th Sergeant Major of the Army. Thank you, have a good day.
[Audience] Hooah! (clapping)