Making a Good Noncommissioned Officer

What is the definition of a good NCO? Is it a hard charging nature and the ability to quickly earn those chevrons? Is it the sergeant who is always leading from the front and, when that crappy detail comes down, is right there in the suck with his/her soldiers? Are NCOs measured by the schools they attend and the ratings that they receive on NCO evaluation reports? Is it any of these, a combination, or maybe something deeper?

I would love to be able to say that I was the best Noncommissioned Officer to have served, but, if I am being honest with everyone and myself, I was not anything close to being the best. I never went to any professional schools that earned me a shiny new badge to put on my uniform, but I also never received any bad ratings on evaluations. I wasn’t the best, but I was still a solid 1-3 NCO. If you are unfamiliar with what that means, I was above average, but not really front of the pack. I was definitely the guy in the middle of the pack as far as big Army was concerned. A “Promote with Peers” kind of soldier. Lucky for me though, it was never my goal after receiving my chevrons, to simply please my superiors and get that next stripe.

If you asked my superiors what kind of NCO I was, they would probably tell you that I was a problem child. Nothing against them, or me, but I did give plenty of them headaches from time to time. Perhaps even more often than just time to time. I was hard headed and always liked to do things in my own way because I believed that I knew better. Sometimes I did, but there were many times that I did not. I always completed the mission, but it could be said that I did go outside of my prescribed directions in completing them.

My peers would tell you that I was more of a nerd than a combat arms NCO. I was undeniably more of a technical than tactical expert. I knew my MOS just fine and I could still perform my duties and lead my soldiers, but we all knew that I was better cut out to do something outside of being a Cavalry Scout. I did the things that the other guys were not so practiced at. I was great with computers, tracking, managing, and counseling. This is probably what landed me in arms rooms and training rooms for much of my career. We had mutual respect for the skills that we each brought to the table, but I can look back now and say that I was definitely a little bit jealous of my friends who were those hard charging, PT studs, and tactical experts.

However, the opinion that mattered the most to me after I became an NCO was that of my subordinates. I remember being asked once by a senior NCO of mine what I believed my job was as an NCO. My answer, “I don’t work for you, Sergeant. I work for my Joes. I worked for NCOs and officers when I was a private and a specialist, but now my responsibility is not to you and to necessarily perform the mission. My soldiers will perform the mission, I promise you that. But my job is to take care of them and make sure that they don’t have to worry about anything outside of completing the mission. If my guys are taken care of, then I have succeeded.” Now, I can easily say with certainty that my outlook on my position as an NCO did not sit well with my superiors, but that was okay. I was not there to make friends.
I followed through with what I said. I was a huge proponent of conducting regular and in depth counseling; I even had some of my subordinate specialists “counsel” me in order for them to gain the experience that they would need later on. I enjoyed seeing them grow as professionals. I liked to tell my guys, “if I have to stand at parade rest for you someday, then I obviously did my job.”

Even with my trouble makers, I liked to be there and do what I thought would make them understand that, one, they done screwed up and, two, I was there to ensure that they got back on track. I once had a kid who showed up late a few times to formation. What was I to do for corrective action? I made him show up an hour prior to formation every day for a week, but, not only that, I showed up fifteen minutes prior to when I told him to arrive. I didn’t like being at the CP at 0500 every day for a week. Honestly, it really sucked. But I needed him to know that I was going to deal with the suck with him and make sure that he got back to where he needed to be.

I had to endure the displeasure of chaptering a few of the soldiers that were in my troop. I knew what they were going through, both professionally and personally, and I tried my best to make the transition easier for them. As the NCO responsible for their chapter, I often had to bring them to their appointments and make sure that they were on track to get kicked out; all the while, I was their advocate, a kind of middleman between the soon to be separated soldier and the command. I have no doubt in my mind that they appreciated it. Many of these young men still stay in contact with me through one medium or another.

As far as being a good NCO goes, I believe my final reassurance that I did my job well came two years after I was actually medically retired. It was nearly midnight and I was out at the bar with my younger brother when I received a phone call from a soldier who at one point was my private. Of course I answered the call, but I did not know what I was getting into. Turns out that he and his wife were in the middle of a huge fight that was about to end their marriage and he was calling me to get advice on how to make it right. I found it ironic that he called me for something like this seeing as how he knew my track record with my wives, but I did what I could. I gave him the best advice that I could after having had a few beers already, told him to get off the phone with me, go to his wife, talk, and get ahold of me later to let me know how everything was. He did. Later I found out that, after following my advice, everything worked out. I didn’t deserve it but he ended up thanking me.

Although it is just my opinion, I believe that being a good Noncommissioned Officer is a combination of many different things that can’t always be quantified. For those in these positions I say, you should take care of your subordinates and everything else should come second. They expect and deserve us to ensure that they are taken care of and I believe that it should be our primary mission to do so.

Be. Know. Do.
Be the NCO that your soldiers need in order to be successful. Know your soldiers; inside and out. Do whatever it takes to make sure that they do not fail.