MARYSVILLE, Wash. - The 364th Expeditionary Sustainment Command, a U.S. Army Reserve unit headquartered here, held a noncommissioned officer induction ceremony Feb. 23.
Fourteen new and current noncommissioned officers were inducted into the corps at the event, which was attended by more than 100 soldiers and family members.
Command Sgt. Maj. Thomas Brashears, the 364th ESC's senior enlisted adviser, served as host of the ceremony.
"In the end, it comes down to: 'I've got to rely on the soldier next to me, and he has to rely on me,'" Brashears said. "You have to work together as a team."
Col. Dwight Ortiz, the 364th ESC's deputy commanding officer, told the noncommissioned officers - all sergeants and staff sergeants - to rededicate themselves.
"Rededicate yourselves today to leading soldiers," Ortiz said, "leading the mission and to showing others how it's done.
"A true leader is, in fact, a formidable follower," Ortiz added.
This was the first noncommissioned officer induction ceremony the 364th ESC has had in several years. Organizers said they plan to make them a regular occurrence.
According to the U.S. Army Center of Military History, noncommissioned officers in the ranks predate the formal organization of the Continental Army in 1775; colonial militias featured noncommissioned officers as early as the 1600s.
Ortiz gave the new inductees some final words of instruction.
"Lead others," he said, "and move forward in a dynamic way."