Can you describe the best junior enlisted who worked for you?

MAJ Ken Landgren — Wed, 17 Jun 2015 15:14:50 -0400

I was a Finance Commander when and saw this young African-American female E-4. She had a great bearing to her, had a 4 year old degree, always had a smiled, and took chances to experience new things like a female boxing tournament. I wish I remembered her name.

I broached the subject of OCS with her, and she was shocked it was a possibility and that I was willing to sponsor her. I went through OCS, so I knew when I had to run interference for her. She left like the high speed she was. Several months later she left her coin on my desk, as I was out of the office.

I was following my desire to take a chance, an investment, that would make the Army a better organization.

Response by SGT(P) Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 17 at 2015 3:24 PM

SGT(P) Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 17 Jun 2015 15:24:26 -0400

MAJ Ken Landgren this is something that I would love to read here more often. Thank you for posting this discussion Sir!

Response by 1SG Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 17 at 2015 4:14 PM

1SG Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 17 Jun 2015 16:14:40 -0400

The senior medic on my first deployment.

"Doc" Williams epitomized the Army Values and the NCO Creed. He was cross-leveled on short notice to us and had to put his insurance practice on hold to deploy with us. Although he was a SPC/E-4, he had the work ethic and Soldier care skills of a seasoned NCO. Despite having been injured at 68W AIT (he probably should have been medically chaptered), he bore the same load as everyone else and then some. He took on BN level responsibilities to ensure his medics were equipped to care for our Soldiers (God knows the Reserve BN we fell under wasn't going to do it). Not once did I ever hear him complain. We made it through MOB @ Camp Shelby in the summer and a year in Afghanistan with zero heat casualties thanks to his tirelessly checking on Soldiers, even on his off duty time. One of my proudest moments was seeing him promoted to SGT during the deployment (he was sitting in a SSG slot as an E-4).

Response by CW4 Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 17 at 2015 4:23 PM

CW4 Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 17 Jun 2015 16:23:26 -0400

I arrived to my unit in Germany in 2005 and was greeted by a 92A SPC Rodgers. Immediately I knew something was different with him because of the way he spoke to me. His maturity level exceeded every other E-4 and below that I’ve ever encountered and it rivaled many of the best NCO’s and Officers that I’ve worked with too. Got to talking to him and found out that he had a BA in business from the University of Florida while he also played football and he was working on his Master’s degree. After about 45 days of watching his performance and interaction with the unit and Battalion, I knew that I had to get him into the OCS program. The process was fairly easy. I was already a candidate for the Warrant Officer Course and left before I could find out if he was selected. So fast forward to 2009, I’m walking into a deployment RIP/TOA brief in Kuwait and I hear someone say, “Chief” it was now 1LT Rodgers. We shook hands and caught up really quick before the brief started and he thanked me for my help and told me that becoming an officer was one of the best decisions on his life. He made CPT in 2010 and he is doing really well.

Response by Capt Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 17 at 2015 7:30 PM

Capt Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 17 Jun 2015 19:30:29 -0400

I had a pair that worked in horizontal control in our mapping program. Neither needed supervision and in fact one, A2C Smith was the only person I ever gave a direct order too. I ordered to take a day off to compensate for the OT he had worked. He was too dedicated to take a day off.

These two moved our charts through their shop on time and with quality and accuracy.

Response by PO1 John Miller made Jun 17 at 2015 7:53 PM

PO1 John Miller — Wed, 17 Jun 2015 19:53:44 -0400

I had a female who came to me straight out of A school, as a Seaman. She was honor graduate of her class so she got meritorious promotion to PO3 after she had her time in rank. She also made PO2 her first time up, so she had about 1 1/2 years in the Navy. She was doing off-duty education and was close to finishing an AS degree due to having previous college credits. On the job she was one of the best performers, qualifying quickly in various watch stations, much faster than average. Not only that, but she actually retained the knowledge of those watch stations, so I could trust her to sit a station that she hadn't been at in a while if I needed her to.

Our Chain was pushing her to submit an OCS or MOCS (OCS with Medical option as she was thinking of becoming a nurse), and she asked me for advice not just as her immediate supervisor but also her mentor and personal friend (I was higher ranking than her, but we were friends outside of work due to our being very close in age. She came into the Navy in her early 30's). I told her "At the end of the day, becoming an officer or staying enlisted is something you'll have to decide for yourself. But me personally, I think that the Navy could always use another good Chief (Petty Officer)."

She did decide to stay enlisted and go for Chief (in fact she also made PO1 not only her first time up, but 1 year early as well). Unfortunately (at least for the Navy) she decided to get out and start a family with her husband instead.

Response by COL Mikel J. Burroughs made Jun 19 at 2015 2:41 PM

COL Mikel J. Burroughs — Fri, 19 Jun 2015 14:41:29 -0400

MAJ Ken Landgren I had a similar experience with one of my E-4 cooks in the 89th SB. She had joined the military to try a new experience and had her 4-year degree in healthcare administration. I was going through the chow line one day and just speaking with all the cooks to see how things were going. The Mess Sergeant introduced the entire team and I spent some talking with them all. I was so encouraged by her level of education and military bearing. Long story short I went to bat for her to get a direct commission into the AMEDD Career Field. Before I knew it she was getting commissioned and we were pinning bars on the new officer. She immediately stepped up to the plate and for almost a year she took over the duties of the Brigade Surgeon for the entire Brigade. Then she became a great Junior Officer.

I can tell you over the 37 years that I spent in the military there were a great number of "super enlisted soldiers" that worked for me! I moved a lot of them into OCS and into direct commissions or off the NCOES ahead of their peers!

Response by MAJ Robert (Bob) Petrarca made Jun 19 at 2015 3:22 PM

MAJ Robert (Bob) Petrarca — Fri, 19 Jun 2015 15:22:56 -0400

So many of them over the years but generally, the ones that were hard working, challenged themselves to be a good soldier and me to be a good leader. They showed a willingness to learn and be taught and had great attitudes.

Response by LTC Ed Ross made Jun 19 at 2015 3:30 PM

LTC Ed Ross — Fri, 19 Jun 2015 15:30:31 -0400

As an advanced individual training company commander at Ft. Leonard Wood, MO, in 1968, I had 400 trainees to feed, clothe, bed and send off to training every day. Army policy at the time required any soldier identified as gay or that claimed to be gay to have their case adjudicated and if they were gay to be discharged from the Army. It wasn’t uncommon then for some men to claim they were gay to avoid going to Vietnam. In a company of 400 there were at least a dozen such cases at any given time. Army policy also required separating these men from the troops in the barracks. The only place I had to do that were office rooms in company headquarters vacated by unavailable drill instructors and storage closets. As I was chronically short of enlisted staff, I put these people to work as company clerks, in the supply room, as drivers, etc. One individual in particular worked as my company clerk. He was exceptional. For several months the only two cadre in the company were me and the first sergeant. And our hands were full, especially 8 days in April 1968, the week Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. was killed. Half the company were African Americans and tension in the company was on razors edge. We had literally no time to attend to routine company business. My clerk handled it all without missing a beat. He even forged my signature on Morning Reports. All this, while we were preparing for an IG inspection in early May. We would have surely flunked the IG had it not been for the clerk. We were short everything (blankets, field gear, foot lockers, etc.) I don’t know where he got them from (I never asked) but when the IG occurred he had everything on our TO&E and passed with flying colors. The young man was discharged from the Army after nearly two months with the company. I never knew what happened to him after that.

http://ewross.com/Gays_in_the_Military.htm

http://ewross.com/Five_Days_in_April_1968.htm

GAYS SERVING OPENLY IN THE MILITARY - EWRoss.com

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