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NCOs, stay in your lane—the Army needs you there - Interview - non-commissioned officers - Statistical Data Included

FA Journal - May 1, 2002

Sergeant Major of the Army Jack L. Tilley

Army Staff at the Pentagon

Q. NCOs play what role and have what responsibilities in the Transformation of the Army?

A. The Army's Transformation encompasses far more than just the formation of the IBCT [initial brigade combat team] at Fort Lewis, Washington. The Army's Transformation involves the entire officer, NCO and warrant officer education systems, the integration of the Army and Secretary of the Army staffs--just about every aspect of the Army.

But as far as the NCOs down in the units are concerned, they will have the same role and responsibilities in the transformed Army. The equipment and unit organization might change and technology will be more advanced, but they still must focus on the basics and stay focused on their jobs.

As a sergeant in the Army, I've worked with seven different tanks. That didn't change my leadership style, techniques of developing people or how I fulfilled my responsibilities to soldiers and the unit--just my equipment changed. Now education-wise, some things may change, but that is based on technology.

The NCO needs to "stay in his lane." He must understand the basics of soldiering, know his MOS [military occupational specialty]; lead, counsel and train his soldiers; enforce all standards; and live the Army values-be the best at what he does. In war, there is no "Second Place" for the NCO and his soldiers. That's the NCO's focus during transformation.

Q. The Army education system for officers, NCOs and warrant officers is transforming with the Chief of Staff's new Leader Development Campaign Plan. Although the redesign of the NCOES is not final, why are we redesigning NCOES and what can you tell us about the redesign?

A. We surveyed some 34,000 NCOs about the NCOES and what we needed to improve to better develop NCOs. Late this spring, we will finalize the plan and release the details of the redesign.

The NCOES that I went through was developed in the mid-1970s, so it's time to transform our education system. We are taking a look at all NCOES courses and revamping them to ensure that what the NCO needs to know is in the right course at the right time in his career.

Basically, we are looking at distance learning for the common core information, which would allow soldiers to stay in their units longer. So for courses like BNCOC [basic NCO course] and ANCOC [advanced NCO course], students would learn the common core subjects via distance learning before they came to the resident courses.

We are not adding any distance learning to PLDC [primary leadership development course]. Young soldiers need to come on site and interact with each other and their instructors to learn leadership skills.

But we are adding some financial planning to PLDC, so our future leaders can manage their finances and invest for the future. In BNCOC and ANCOC, we are going to educate NCOs about their retirement benefits--let them know what they can expect before they retire.

We are slipping the Sergeants Major Academy to earlier in an NCO's career. Right now, the average for attendance is more than 20 years of service. We want to bring that down to about 17 years. NCOs need to know some things earlier in their careers. That's the same reason we are taking some information in the Battle Staff and First Sergeant Courses and moving it down into BNCOC and ANCOC.

One of the things people don't realize is the civilian education level of the NCO Corps has gone up considerably. About 20 years ago, the average education level was a high school diploma. Today, the average education level of the NCO is probably at least an associate's degree...many have more education. A degree is not a requirement, but because of the national emphasis on education, NCOs today are more highly educated.

So, we are developing the Army University Access Online. This is a $500,000,000 program that gives soldiers laptops and printers for their Army distance learning requirements and to go to college. In a few years, the Army will start issuing laptops and printers to soldiers.

Right now, we have about 125,000 soldiers forward deployed in Korea, Germany and other places. We have another 75,000 soldiers deployed in operations in places such as Kosovo, Bosnia, Macedonia, even Afghanistan. This Army University Access Online program will ensure soldiers "on the ground" have the equipment they need to complete the distance learning requirements for their NCOES courses in a timely manner and continue their college education from wherever they are.

Overall, we are increasing distance learning requirements. But we need to be careful not to overload the soldier--not to overload the unit that has to give him duty time to complete distance learning requirements. The Chief of Staff of the Army agrees we have to strike a balance of distance learning and resident instruction.

Q. Do you see the Army combining or partially combining OES and NCOES course POIs [programs of instruction] wherever possible?

A. There's been a lot of discussion about that, and I'm not sure that's a good idea. Our NCO and officer corps are intertwined. Our officers complement NCOs and our NCOs complement officers. The relationship between the two is probably the best I've seen in my 33 years in the Army.

But officers and NCOs do different things. So, we don't want officers and NCOs thinking alike. NCOs must continue to think at the individual task level and officers at the collective task level. Officers plan; sergeants execute. It's good to come together in some integrated training, but our OES and NCOES need to be different so we both know where our lanes are.

The difference between our Army and the armies of other countries is our NCO Corps--the specific focus of our NCO Corps. You know, right now in Afghanistan and elsewhere, we have great political and military leaders doing a wonderful job, but the sergeant on the ground is making the difference. He is deciding whether or not to kill somebody. Active, Reserve or National Guard, our NCOs are dedicated professionals who prove that daily by making a difference in deployments around the world.

Q. What is your vision of the future soldier--do you see him highly skilled in a specific area with more narrow assignment utilization or more a generalist who receives assignment-oriented training-training only as he needs it for his next assignment?

A. I favor the multipurpose soldier--he must have general knowledge of his MOS coming out of basic training and AIT [advanced individual training] but be fully trained on the specific equipment he'll find in his first unit. Each soldier is going to have to do more.

At the same time, I think we have to be very careful not to overload soldiers while making them multipurpose. We need to ensure soldiers can be proficient in their MOS.

We have gone back to the proponents of the various MOS and asked them if their MOS are combined correctly. For example, we took the 11B (Infantryman), 11M (Fighting Vehicle Infantryman) and 11H(Heavy Antiarmor Weapons Infantryman) MOS and consolidated them into one MOS to make the infantryman multipurpose. 1lBs need to know how to fight in light units, operate Bradleys or fire TOWs [tube-launched, optically tracked, wire-guided missiles].

Now, it'll take five or so years to work through all the "gigs" of combining these MOS. But the consolidated MOS will give the Army more options for employing 1lBs in different places.

Q. When you consolidate MOS, how does the soldier get the training he needs when he is reassigned to a unit with different equipment?

A. The soldier will be trained on that equipment before he goes to his next unit--called "just-in-time" training. As time goes on, for example, 1lBs will have served in light infantry and then Bradley units, so they will be trained in all aspects of their MOS.

Of course, the consolidated MOS' ANCOC and BNCOC will incorporate training from the three MOS. The development of the multipurpose 1lB will take quite a while.

One issue we were concerned about was the promotion system. Soldiers in the three MOS that now make up the 1lB MOS advanced a little quicker in the separate MOS. We had to make sure the advancement for soldiers in the consolidated MOS was Ok before we consolidated those MOS.

We are looking at consolidating some CSS [combat service support] MOS ...medical MOS; some of the supply MOS; the mechanical MOS, maybe those for light-wheeled and heavy-wheeled vehicles; even some of the administrative MOS. But no decisions have been made yet.

Q. When you consolidate MOS and make the soldier multipurpose with just-in-time training, when he gets to the top ranks of his MOS, will he be prepared to train and supervise subordinates? Will he be technically and tactically competent in his MOS that encompasses a broader type and number of skill sets?

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