Senior Noncommissioned Officers Key in Iraq, Afghanistan

Senior Noncommissioned Officers Key in Iraq, Afghanistan
US News & World Report ^ | 10/22/2009 | Anna Mulrine

Posted on Thursday, October 22, 2009 8:37:59 AM by Saije

When the Army made the decision earlier this year to install the first noncommissioned officer to head the Sergeants Major Academy, there were concerns about whether an enlistee would be able to wield the sort of power it takes to change the way troops are taught to fight wars today.

“There was some angst,” Command Sgt. Maj. Raymond Chandler explains from the office where he began his new job as commandant in August. “Change is hard.”

That has been true throughout the military, particularly since Chandler’s days as a young sergeant, when his unit practiced for weeks to pull off finely executed tank maneuvers. Admittedly complex, those pale in comparison, he says, with the leadership challenges senior NCOs face today. “Then, we were training for ‘knowns.’ ” Today, NCO leaders are preparing their soldiers to “think through unknowns,” a far trickier undertaking. Chandler cites the “three-block wars” in Iraqi cities as an example. In the face of attacks, or possible attacks, “you had to look at the threat and decide whether to escalate,” he says. “You need that critical-thinking ability.”***

This increasingly includes, NCOs add, the need to take into account the impact America’s current wars have on soldiers. When Command Sgt. Maj. David Yates, director of the Sergeants Major Course at the academy, was in Iraq, his unit was responsible for a piece of terrain the size of Delaware. He recalls one of his platoons returning from a monthlong scouting mission, then being chosen by a commander hours later to be the quick-reaction force for an evening operation. “You have to say, ‘Let’s think about this,’ ” notes Yates, who recalls the exhausted soldiers walking around in their workout clothes because their fatigues were being washed. “Sometimes, we have to be the sanity check, the voice of reason.”

(Excerpt) Read more at usnews.com …

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