Fulfill your obligations

NCOs should make it a point to drop by the barracks on and off duty to visit soldiers and check on their welfare.SMA Jack L. TilleyThink about what it means to be a sergeant. It boils down to two things...you have to train soldiers and you have to lead soldiers.SMA Robert E. HallThree words that are dear to me are duty, responsibility, and authority. People often make the observation that, “He is an outstanding noncommissioned officer” or “She is a born leader.” But what it is that makes soldiers into leaders? One of key elements that must exist for NCOs to become outstanding leaders is that NCOs need to understand what their responsibilities are. And as you see things that need to be fixed in the Army, don’t look up, because you’re part of the “they” that is our Army. Look in the mirror, and then figure out how to fix your part of the Army. Experience isn’t what happens to you. Experience is what you do with what happens to you. Being a hero isn’t hitting 60 home runs- it’s what you do every day.SMA Robert E. HallIt is difficult to be a good noncommissioned officer. If it had been easy, they would have given it to the officer corps.SMA William A. ConnellyYou’re not being paid by how hard you work, but by what you accomplish. If you can’t hack it, pack it. Our challenge today is to look forward, to write our own history. SMA William A. ConnellyThe goal of the corps of NCOs, whose duty is the day-to-day business of running the Army so that the officer corps has time to command it, is to continue to improve our Army at every turn. We want to leave it better than we found it. Regardless of the kind of unit you’re in, it ought to be an “elite” outfit, because its NCOs can make it one.SMA William G. BainbridgeCitizens everywhere, and especially soldiers, should remember that entrenched bureaucracy, whatever the level, can be overcome. You’ve got to stick to it, be polite but firm, and just not take no for an answer.SMA William G. BainbridgeSquad leaders, platoon sergeants, and first sergeants can make or break any Army program. I think of the whole process of “people” programs as a kind of inverted pyramid. At the top is the broad base of policy. Many high-level staffs and agencies help establish these policies, each of which carries considerable weight. Beneath the policies in the inverted pyramid are the implementing policies and instructions. There are numerous sources and channels for these, each of which adds to the weight and increases the pressure. Finally, at the bottom, is the apex of the inverted pyramid, the unit: the company or battery, and the platoons, squads, and sections that make up the Army. The entire pyramid’s weight is concentrated here. This is the focal point where the noncommissioned officer can play a major role. The noncommissioned officers who meet professional challenges successfully will be the shakers and the movers, the leaders and the doers, the hard chargers and the thorough supervisors.SMA Leon L. Van AutreveA professional is a dynamic growing being who has learned from the past, acts in the present, but above all focuses on accomplishing his mission. The Army, like any other dynamic business, must constantly look critically at its own structure and procedures. Although the Department of the Army is always formulating new programs and experimenting with these schemes, it takes the full support and whole-hearted dedication of all enlisted ranks to make sure that the future’s threats to our way of life can be overcome. The ideal of honorable service which we instill in our soldiers today will lay the foundation for a better Army in the future.SMA George W. DunawayIn our Army every soldier must care about his job. Often- if the duty seems menial or hum-drum- it is hard to cultivate this attitude. But it must be done. What you do in your job each day, you do for the Army.SMA William O. Wooldridge