As the Army changes throughout the year, the roles and actions of its leaders’ change as well. We as a Corps should always keep within standing of what the Corps of Noncommissioned Officer (NCO) was truly built off of. Knowing the correct path and actions to take when dealing with your subordinates is what makes a great leader. Going back to the beginning of time for the Corps, you will realize the path the founding members had in mind.
When discussing what being an NCO in the in the United States Army means, we first have to look back at where the Corps started. By military professionals reflection on the history of leadership, it will provide aid in their personal success and accomplish the task at hand. The U.S. NCO dates back to 1775 when the Continental Army was instituted. Succeeding away from the British rule, the newly formed Army did not want to structure itself in the same way. However, the Corps of Noncommissioned Officers did take some aspects from the British as well as the French and Prussian Army’s. The building of the fundamental roles in this process made the U.S. Corps a truly unique institution. (Perkioniemi 2009) In 1778, at Valley Forge, General Friedrich Von Steuben observed and understood that there was still some disorder amongst the ranks. Upon this realization, he started to develop a way of installing discipline, and tactics into a group of men. Men that received the training under the highly motivating General were then sent out to their respective units to train their troops. This task was delegated down to the sergeants. After a few battles had taken place and the results of General Von Steuben’s techniques were shown to improve the outcome, General Washington awarded him with the title of Inspecting General. With the new role and responsibilities, General Von Steuben drafted “Regulations for the Order and Discipline of the Troops of the United States”, also known as the “Blue Book”.
Now knowing the history behind the NCO it is time to look at how one should hold themselves. Being an NCO you have to know how to communicate with your Soldiers. To have self-confidence with the ability to listen and communicate is key. Every Soldier is different. Making rational rewards and punishments you must take into account the individual. Given an example of a Soldier that comes in late every other day for a couple of weeks, before you jump down the throat of the individual try and see if there is an underlining problem. Doing so will show that care about them. An NCO should take pride in leading your Soldier to success. Making the Soldiers succeed will allow them to want to help. Leading a group of people by giving purpose, direction, and motivation is the only way to towards accomplishing the mission. Often times NCOs are giving the task of something that seems impossible. These everyday jobs shine a light on what ultimate goal of an NCO, to ensure that the Soldier returns home safely both mentally and physically. An NCO also must lead a team in a way that commands respect and builds trust. If the NCO fails at leadership, problem-solving, or communication, their Soldiers will fail to follow orders leading to mission failure, injuries, even death.
Hesselbein, 2004 says that the Army, a huge part because of General Von Steuben, is one of the most complex, best-run organizations in the world. Sitting in the center of the Army is a simple, but profound leadership philosophy Be, Know, Do. Embracing a leadership role involves developing all aspects of your character, your competence, and your actions. You learn to lead well by adopting the Army Values, learning military skills, and practicing leadership actions. (SITE) Using this self-development, you can become a confident leader. An Army NCO starts with what the leader must Be. Your character is who you are and everything you do and ask others to do. By demonstrating your commitment to character and to a leadership role in the Army by living the Army Values. What you know is important as is the good character in your growth as an Army leader. To ask subordinates to perform to standard, you must first be proficient in the standard yourself. What you Do is just as important as the Be and Know aspects of your Army leadership philosophy. While character and knowledge are important, by themselves they are not enough. Leaders cannot be effective until they put to use what they know. What leaders Do, or leader actions is directly related to the influence they have on others and on what is done. Leading by example, it could be leading a tough platoon run, or simply helping cleaning up, to showing how a task is done, shows a subordinate that you simply don’t give orders from the chair, but that you also put forth your work. You show that you are not hiding behind rank and that you can be trusted if a situation is critical.
Excellence in leadership does not mean perfection. Rather, an excellent leader allows Soldiers room to learn from their mistakes as well as thrive off their successes. Your subordinates will learn to trust when they fail, you will coach and mentor them to do better. As you reflect on the Army leader attributes and core leader competencies, developing the skills your positions require, you will become a leader of character and competence. General Von Steuben wanted to construct a Corps that not only had a discipline but one that leads the Soldiers. Being an NCO is being a leader. Acting as a boss instead of a leader will create a toxic environment as well as lead to an unsuccessful mission. As an NCO we have to mold our Soldiers into future leaders. A great well rounded NCO has been in the fleet a bit, gone on a deployment, had many good and bad NCO’s in charge of them as well. Embrace the Be, Know, Do philosophy to understand how to lead. Understand the Creed of the Noncommissioned Officer, and practice putting the words into action. Putting all this information into effect will truly allow you to be an effective NCO. Servant leadership, putting the needs of the Soldiers first and helping perform as highly as possible, is ingrained in the NCO Corps. This is what it means to be a Noncommissioned Officer in the United States Army.