Command Sgt. Maj. Jeffery T. Stitzel, regimental sergeant major for the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard), was the Army’s first NCO of the year in 2002 while serving as a sergeant first class.Since that inaugural competition – now known as The Best Warrior Competition and held at Fort Lee, Va. – Stitzel has seen the status of the noncommissioned officer evolve into having a more crucial role in the Army."We’re asking noncommissioned officers to do things now at the staff level that we entrusted career course-graduate captains to do," Stitzel said.Adding, "You’ve got noncommissioned officers writing training guides for their commanders. You’ve got noncommissioned officers that aren’t just the battle NCO, but they’re in charge of the talk while deployed. It’s just a testament to how the noncommissioned officers have grown."That advancement in trust and leadership has lead to growth within the NCO Education System (NCOES), Stitzel said.Intermediate Level Education that is being taught to majors at the Command and General Staff College has been implemented at the Sergeant Majors Academy. Distance learning opportunities have also expanded throughout the NCOES to further learning opportunities."We’re seeing that our noncommissioned officers are smarter, and they’re being entrusted more," he said. "They are doing phenomenal across the spectrum."Stitzel has seen this growth and trust expand to NCOs in the Army, and across the entire U.S. armed forces."We are the premier corps within the world," Stitzel said. "Every other country wants to emulate how our NCOs complement the officer corps." Home stationAt home and away from the battlefield, the Army Force Generation process allows NCOs to reset and train, which gives junior enlisted soldiers opportunities to step into more responsibility.Stitzel said while NCOs are training, going through NCOES or changing duty stations, it "leaves a vacuum.""And who steps up? It’s a PFC or it’s a specialist. It might be a PV2," he said. "And we’re putting them in team leader and squad leader position until we can get those key noncommissioned officers."Stitzel also said it’s "a testament to our society in America" that civilians continue to raise their right hand and choose careers in the Army.With the last 10 years of war in Iraq and Afghanistan, soldiers who have joined have known exactly what they were getting into."If you really want to go back the last five years, you start going into the surge, and we were having high casualties," he said. "But we were a growing Army. We weren’t having problems with soldiers coming in."The challenge for NCOs now and perhaps more so in the future as operations draw down in Iraq and Afghanistan is being an effective leader at the home station.Stitzel said it’s easier for leaders while deployed because they are with their soldiers all the time."The concern is when we come back in a home station setting, we kind of relax," he said. "It’s natural – we’re relaxed and it’s not that high state of alert. When you’re deployed, you’re leader is there 24/7. He’s there all the time, he sees everything. Once you add in the home dynamic, that takes them out."Stitzel said at the home station, it goes back to leaders leading, teaching and mentoring.It’s easy during the work day but difficult to continue that when soldiers are off duty."A lot of it is getting those soldiers out of their barracks and giving them something to do," he said.Adding, "That needs to be structured in two different ways. First is personal growth, which could be going out – such as in the Washington, D.C., area – the Smithsonian, or going camping or fishing."Then there’s education that’s important, too. The hard thing is taking lessons that you learned and then conveying them to the soldier – it’s not forcing soldiers to do it, it’s getting them to buy into it."Another aspect is the new Comprehensive Soldier Fitness program, Stitzel said. The five pillars the program is based on will make a difference in soldiers being physically, spiritually and medically fit.Stitzel believes the difference between leadership and management is the human dimension.Good leadership comes down to finding what motivates the person you’re trying to motivate."If you don’t understand that, you’re not going to be able to change their point of view, whether what motivates them is time off, whether it’s money or whether it’s other things," he said. The Old GuardThis is Stitzel’s third tour with The Old Guard. In fact when he competed in the NCO of the Year Competition, then at Fort A.P. Hill, Va., in 2002, he did so as a member of The Old Guard representing the National Capital Region.To him, The Old Guard is more than a ceremonial unit. It represents the main effort for the army, which is to deter war."The reason is that when foreign dignitaries come, we want to provide an intimidating force to them," he said. "That’s part of keeping the peace. If you’re intimidated by the other country’s armed forces, you’re not going to start something."For ceremonies at Arlington National Cemetery, it’s usually a young staff sergeant or sergeant – "probably less than 23 years old" — who is in charge making sure the other soldiers are there and ready, Stitzel said."The key is, every ceremony is itself its own ceremony because that family only gets to bury their loved one time," he said. "It has got to be flawless, and it has got to be perfect."Adding, "I can’t even say [the soldiers] surprise me anymore. The hard part for me to remember is how much they do and how well they do it all the time."He said The Old Guard participates in funerals 20 to 30 times a day at Arlington. But those are just a portion of the regiment’s mission.With the U.S. Army Drill Team, Caisson Platoon, Presidential Salute Battery, Guard Platoon for the Tomb of the Unknowns, to name a few, soldiers within the regiment participate in events every day throughout the U.S. Army Military District of Washington and National Capital Region."We have soldiers going to the Pentagon every day who are interacting with general officers," he said. "We’re sending them to the White House. The standard is so high for them every day. The regiment itself doesn’t have a day off." NCO of the Year competitionAs the Army’s first NCO of the year back in 2002, Stitzel said he was humbled at the time at being chosen. He didn’t view himself as the best NCO in the Army, just that he was the best NCO in the competition."I was selected to represent everybody else," he said. "But to think I was ‘the best’ would be absolutely crazy."When it came time for sending someone from The Old Guard to go to the National Capital Region competition this year, Stitzel chose Sgt. 1st Class Chad Stackpole, a former winner of the Best Ranger Competition.Stitzel didn’t give him an option."To me, it’s another part of leadership," he said. "Too many leaders ask their soldiers if they want to do something when the leaders need to tell their soldiers, ‘This is what you’re going to do.’ I think that’s one of the areas we need to improve as leaders."