What would IamNCO Do?
Is there enough thoughtful writing by noncoms
U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Jacob Centers, a CH-47 Chinook crew chief assigned to the 2nd General Support Aviation Battalion, 227th Aviation Regiment, 1st Air Cavalry Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, sits on the ramp of the helicopter during exercise Paladin Strike at Camp Adazi Training Area, Latvia, Aug. 7, 2024. (U.S. Army photo Sgt. Cecil Elliott II). US Army photo.
WWSMAD? (Click the link; it works)
That was the title of a recent Line of Departure (LOD) article by the Harding Project, asking the rhetorical question: What would the SMA Do? If you are not following it, the Harding Project is a chief-of-staff initiative led by the Modern Warfare Institute (MWI) to reinvigorate professional writing and turn attention to branch journals. MWI is the official Army think tank that "conducts rigorous research on modern warfare and military problems relevant to cadets and the Army."
No, this isn't an ad for the Harding Project, but it could be. It’s a plea for NCO-generated articles specifically from still-serving and soldier-for-life veterans. Based on the sheer volume of Army NCOs (more than 50% of the Army force structure), the LOD post is a reminder of how little quality writing by NCOs the SMA can choose from. Or is it? If you click the link, there were two company grade officers and one sergeant first class he picked to highlight. It would indeed be nice if the SMA could recommend NCO-produced content exclusively.
NCO Writing
Unsurprisingly, he recommended articles relating primarily to warfighting, so maybe they were the best in the bunch at that moment; it’s not a shot at him. And, since we here at the Institute often talk about policy and professional development, maybe if we had a stream of our articles, he wouldn't have included it no matter how good it was because it may have been off-topic to the theme LOD was after. Regardless of who selects what, I believe we should encourage writing, and we will continue to highlight NCO topics of all types on our substack here.
Believe me, it’s happening anyway. In my peer group this week, I shared an article sent to me by SFC Brad Stewart of the SCARNG on how using AI in the selection process for promotion could potentially reduce bias in the system. Was it perfect? No. He still had some 'splain to do. But my point is that he is making a run at creating conversations independently and posting them to his LinkedIn feed without the reach of the Hardling group and possibly outside the influence of the SMA reading material. So how can he and others get their ideas into the mainstream?
Like MWI for West Point cadets, our Institute for NCOs aims to continue to grow our independent forum to complement other initiatives like Muddy Boots and Line of Departure and be open to not only those still serving but also the NCO alum network from all services and our coalition partners. I suggest you use this network to reach the NCO population, both serving and alums. By cross-posting these articles in our social media groups, like LinkedIn or Facebook, we can widen the audience we can contact and communicate with.
Contribute
If you have an NCO topic, we want to highlight it here as a blog post, a short story, or an article. If you have an issue, post with us, and we will give you credit and a byline. If you don't have one, I’d appreciate it if you could consider it. If you are a bit removed from the Army these days and feel rusty, feel free to use your current observations today and compare them to your service and how you may have benefitted from the knowledge you have now and how it might apply to NCOs today.
Please consider an article to help us get the word out and increase NCO dialogue.
/topsarge
CSM (Ret.) Daniel K. Elder, Chair