Photo By Kimberly Hackbarth | Newly promoted noncommissioned officers with 69th Air Defense Artillery Brigade repeat...... read more read more
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FORT HOOD, Texas – Once every quarter, 69th Air Defense Artillery Brigade welcomes its newest additions to the noncommissioned officer corps by holding an NCO Induction Ceremony.
The brigade inducted 10 NCOs into the Corps of the Noncommissioned Officer Aug. 14, at the Phantom Warrior Center, here.
Sgt. 1st Class Eric Gradner, the operations NCO with 1st Battalion, 62nd ADA Regiment, 69th ADA Bde., helped coordinate the ceremony and said being formally inducted is a rite of passage.
“The ceremony is saying now you’re officially in charge of Soldiers,” explained the Clovis, New Mexico, native. “Not only them, but their families and their welfare as well.”
During the ceremony, the inductees stood in a line in front of two senior NCOs holding swords that they crossed to form an archway. The guest speaker of the event instructed each Soldier to cross the threshold, signifying his or her entrance into the corps.
“You want that newly promoted NCO to feel the change of walking from one threshold to another,” Gradner explained.
Sgt. Roger Nash, the orderly room clerk for Battery C, 1st Bn., 62nd ADA Regt., 69th ADA Bde., from Clermont, Georgia, participated in the ceremony and walked under the swords.
Nash was promoted Aug. 3 in a battery-level formation and said he had a short speech for those in attendance.
“I told the battery I will do everything I can to strive to continue to prove why I earned that rank,” he said. “My goal of being an NCO is to have successful troops under me and prove to my subordinates and leaders why they made a good decision by promoting me.”
Though Nash does not enjoy the spotlight, he said, he was entrusted with the rank he earned.
“It’s kind of cool looking back hundreds of years saying the rest of the noncommissioned officer corps also earned this rank,” he said. “To be among hundreds of years of history and being a part of the corps responsible for training Soldiers is a big deal.”
Nash’s own grandfather is a part of that history, he said.
“Seventy years ago, give or take, when my grandfather got pinned, he was entrusted with the exact same responsibility,” said Nash. "The Army’s come a long way and changed dramatically, but NCOs are still entrusted with that same responsibility.”
For Nash, the fact that the leaders of the brigade paused everything that is going on in three battalions to recognize a handful of people was incredible.
The reason for doing so was simple for Gradner.
“Every unit should push something to the left or something to the right to allow every newly promoted NCO to have the honor of being inducted, so they feel more a part of this elite corps,” he explained. “It’s not about the rank ‘sergeant’ or the pay; it’s about what being a noncommissioned officer means and being part of the ‘Backbone of the Army.’”
| Date Taken: | 08.14.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 08.18.2015 16:23 |
| Story ID: | 173522 |
| Location: | FORT HOOD, TX, US |
| Hometown: | CLERMONT, GA, US |
| Hometown: | CLOVIS, NM, US |
| Web Views: | 46 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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