What Rank Was The Most Challenging But Rewarding?

Being an E6 was the most challenging and rewarding. Everyone junior and senior is expecting you to be a technical/tactical expert as well as being an experienced leader. Trial by fire!

Sgt E5 was my most difficult rank but at the same time it was the most rewarding for me. As an E5 in the maintenance field i had to teach soldiers of all ranks and MOS the proper way to help maintain their vehicles. It did not matter what rank they were, Private to Major.

When I was moved into the #1 EM slot (!SG - First Sergeant, E-8) & my lovely sweet wife took ALL my uniforms to Alterations (with a copy of my orders being promoted to 'TOP'). I had my first formation the next day/morning (257 soldiers in our unit) and I had a knot in my 'gut' as big as a basketball! BUT, it went well as my experience as a DI, Field 1SG (E-7), paid off! My new company commander wanted me to stop by his office and when I walked in, he laughed so hard he almost cried... I asked: "sir, what the hell is so funny... watching me sweat in front of ALL our soldiers..." he said, "Paul, I bet we could ring out 10 to 15 gallons of sweat in your BDU's! So that evening, he and his wife took me and my wife out for a really decent dinner! Of course, he HAD to tell the story to his wife and my wife! He finally admitted that the same thing happened to him when he got promoted to Captain & the 3 star in the parade field bleachers was watching him sweat.

The most challenging rank I held was also the longest time period rank held. That was Airman Second Class (A2C), Enlisted rank (E-3). I dropped out of the eleventh grade in October 1955. I took an enlistment physical, along with four buddies on October 23, 1955 (my birthday) and enlisted five days later in the United States Air Force (USAF) on October 28, 1955. That same day we departed St. Lousi, Missouri on the "Texas Eagle" train for San Antonio, Texas with First Class Accommodations. When we arrived that same evening and were bussed to Lackland AFB pure hell began for our Basic Flight Training. Out of the next three weeks our flight was given 18 days of Kitchen Police (KP) duties. At the start of the Third Week, our Technical Instructors (TIs) were both arrested, confined and courts-martialed for selling our Flight multiple times for KP in exchange for favors or cash with other units. What can I say, we were mostly young, school dropouts, and some juvenile offenders given a second chance by lenient Juvenile Court Judges? We had thought what we were doing was normal. Our new Technical Instructor was all "Right Stuff" and taught us in two weeks all we should have learned in the first five total weeks. We did not win Fifth Week Drill Competition, but we came really close. After boot camp, and Base Operations School Training at Keesler AFB, Mississippi (another story for another time) I was selected for assignment to Haneda AB, Japan. I arrived about May 1956, enjoyed Japan for two years, attained the rank of A2C and departed about May 1958 for McGuire AFB, New Jersey. This is where I was challenged the most and longest in this rank. In the two years I was assigned as Permanent Party at McGuire AFB, I was sent Temporary Duty (TDY) to Thule AB. Greenland for three months, and Altus AFB, Oklahoma for 6 weeks Advanced Technical School Training (After which I got married on a seven day leave July 31, 1959). As an A2C, with more than 2 years' experience, I was assigned "Dispatcher" duties in Fleet Service (The dirtiest job in the military). Fleet Service has the overall duty of cleaning aircraft, including the Latrines. As a dispatcher I had all ranks assigned under me up to Staff Sergeants (E-5s). I enjoyed the authority given and probably exploited it. But it kept me off the dirty job and mostly clean. During this time some circumstances arose (another story for another time) that necessitated I take a "Short" discharge and I reenlisted for Six (6) years and a $750.00 reenlistment bonus. At the end of two years, I was officially transferred Permanent Change of Station (PCS) to Goose Bay AB, Greenland. I served there from late in 1959 to January 1960. My new wife had developed Tuberculosis and had a Lung removed. I was sent home on a Humanitarian Reassignment to Scott AFB, Illinois. Shortly after I reported for duty, my new Squadron Commander asked why I had been an A2C for nearly four years. I didn't know myself and was really dumb in the ways of the world then. He researched my records and discovered I had not had an Airman's Performance Report (APR) since early 1956, nearly four years, due to multiple PCS and TDY back-to-back assignments which allowed the Supervisors over me to escape the 90-day rule and not have to write an Airman's Performance Report (APR). This Commander, a Major, directed my supervisor to write me an immediate APR, and every 90 days reassign me to a new position and title and write another APR. After six months I had 3 new APRs and a promotion to Airman First Class (E-4). I took advantage of this challenging time and progressed in a timely fashion from that time forward to Chief Master Sergeant (CMSgt, E-9). I also returned the Commander's favor and made sure I always wrote timely APRs for persons assigned under my supervision.

By far the most challenging but rewarding rank was SSG. You have to bridge the gap between the junior enlisted who are varying levels of motivation and the senior enlisted who are very task orientated. The job to staying connected with mentoring those below you, as well as your duties to get the job done and done right can sometimes be conflicting, and if we are to be honest, was mentally exhausting at the end of some days. But the reward comes in when your squad or platoon completes a mission, soldiers step up to levels you envisioned they could and sometimes beyond, and the company as a whole succeeds with not only completing the overall mission or readiness, but building a congruent group that LOVES what they do.

Colonel was the most challenging and rewarding rank in my almost 37 years of Army active duty service. Rewarding in the sense that I had the privilege to lead a team of over 1,200 talented Soldiers and Civilians as their Brigade Commander in Korea. Challenging because it was my responsibility to ensure the readiness of a heavy brigade combat set (APS-4) that accounted for half of the Army’s ground combat power on the Korean peninsula. When I first assumed command, that prepositioned set was in a poor state of readiness. I was faced with a mandate from Congress to raise it to 100% operational readiness in 8 months. Needless to say, I had regular visits from GAO and Congressional delegations to monitor our progress while evaluating all the Lean and Six Sigma projects and reorganization that my battalion commander and his team were implementing to get us to that milestone. We beat the deadline by a week. GAO did not know at first how to write a positive report on my teams’s remarkable achievement in such a short period of time working around the clock for 8 months (most GAO reports are ugly and highly critical). So much so that it took the Secretary of the Army to pay us a visit and see for himself what GAO had just reported. The Secretary called our efforts the Army model for Business Transformation. Now the challenge was to sustain that readiness on a consistent basis if ever needed to fight tonight and win. Definitely the most challenging assignment of my career, and the most rewarding. One Team!

My final rank of SFC in the Army, leader of my squad and entrusted with multiple responsibilities by my platoon leader. Brought out the best in me and the respect of my fellow soldiers. Truly rewarding and I would do it all over again!

Let's start with a little background; the US Army 3 Ranger Battalions are run by NCOs. They are NCO driven organizations and you stand a parade rest when speaking to someone who is higher in rank than yourself. You address them by their rank (specialist, SGT, SSG, SFC, 1SG, CSM).

After basic training and AIT, after airborne school and the Ranger indoctrination Program (RIP) I was sent to 1-75th Ranger Battalion. During one of my first few days in the bat, I was coming down the barracks stairs for morning formation. A hardcore voice from behind me asked me why I wasn't wearing any rank on my collar (jungle fatigues). I turned around and addressed the meanest looking SSG I had ever met and he was looking for an excuse to drop a new Ranger for pushups. This SSG was wearing Halo, jumpmaster, combat patch, Ranger tab, EIB, all the markings of one tough SOB. I swallowed hard and responded that I was wearing the rank I was currently at; E-1 (no rank to wear).

The SSG pulled close to me and punched me in the arm saying, "it's about damn time we see someone coming up through the ranks like I did, with nothing. I came in as an E-1 and I keep seeing these new kids wearing all kinds of rank right out of RIP." He smiled at me fully knowing I was crapping my pants expecting something entirely different from this bad ass.

When I pinned on E-2 a few months later, he was one of the first people to congratulate me.

CW4 Bob Monroe (retired)

e 1 was the beginning of my military experience and the most difficult because i met people from around the country and i didn t understand the different cultures from the east coast and west coast and especially the mid west. i was from the deep south and undereducated and under informed. i didn t even know who malcolm x was or the black panthers. so i felt like an out sider and was willing to do anything to make an impression and be accepted. one day some fast talking new yorker approached me and convinced me to buy some sleeping pills or red devils as they were called. the next day i was taken from the training field and brought to my locker were the mp found the two pills and put me in jail. i got an article 15 and was recycled. they would not dare send me home and lose a soldier on his way to vietnam. it was very rewarding because it prepared me for what was to come in vietnam. the isolation and wanting to fit in was magnfied in the jungle but i was better prepared to stand on my own two feet and avoided getting involved with some shady characters.

shit sandwich