Photo By Sgt. Maj. Alejandro Licea | Sgt. Maj. Stan Ashford, operational sustainment sergeant major, presents Staff Sgt....... read more read more
by Sgt. Alex Licea
Third Army Public Affairs Office
FORT MCPHERSON, Ga., (May 12, 2006) - The word of the day was 'transformation" for Third Army noncommissioned officers, who participated in a Noncommissioned Officer Professional Development session May 11 at the unit's headquarters on Fort McPherson and via video teleconference from Camp Arifjan, Kuwait.
The conference began with Command Sgt. Maj. Marlon Phipps, command sergeant major for the Third Army Special Troops Battalion, and Sgt. Maj. Stan Ashford, operational sustainment sergeant major, recognizing Staff Sgt. Reeba Critser as the Battalion Soldier of the Quarter and presenting her with a Certificate of Appreciation.
After a round of applause, Phipps and Ashford addressed more than 100 NCOs in attendance about the new direction the unit and the Army is taking.
"We [Third Army] have become a major army command with new responsibilities," said Ashford. "We are now at the same level as a U.S. Forces Command."
Phipps, who is currently in Kuwait in support of the Global War on Terrorism, spoke about how the new changes would affect the unit's current structure.
In the next two to six months we are going to have an additional 180 Soldiers assigned to Third Army to support the unit's area of responsibility, he said.
Ashford also elaborated on the future of the Army and its upcoming changes to meet the requirements of the digital age.
"We are moving to a paperless Army where all reports and evaluations will be done by electronic mediums," Ashford said. "These electronic means will make life a whole lot easier."
Ashford then addressed the NCOs on important topics such as enlisted promotions and evaluations and how they will be completed via the Internet. During his comments, Ashford spoke about the improvements, and the new security measures such as the use of a service member's or civilian's Common Access Card in order to complete all documents.
"NCOER reports will now be done online," he said. "This means that the days of the administrative specialist are over, and all Soldiers must be knowledgeable on all these different types of documents.
"This is a best way to ensure operations security because there is a lot of sensitive information," Ashford added.
The NCOPD ended with Phipps addressing the importance of mentoring young NCOs of today into future leaders, and the future of the NCO corps.
"Look to your left and your right," said Phipps. "We are so busy sometimes that we forget to communicate with our young sergeants and staff sergeants who are the future senior NCO leadership of the Army."
"I ask the senior NCOs, master sergeants and sergeants first class, to talk and mentor these young NCO because they are the future sergeant majors of the Army," he concluded.
| Date Taken: | 05.16.2006 |
| Date Posted: | 05.16.2006 13:15 |
| Story ID: | 6404 |
| Location: | FORT MACPHERSON, GA, US |
| Web Views: | 231 |
| Downloads: | 23 |
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