Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Brent Powell | Army Reserve Sgt. 1st Class John D. Frye, training noncommissioned officer, 335th...... read more read more
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FORT STEWART, Georgia –A group of senior noncommissioned officers made history here recently by completing the Army’s newly implemented Master Leader Course, which was conducted here for the first time this month.
Although the Army has been developing and refining the MLC for the past two years, it became a requirement for sergeants first class to be promoted to master sergeant under the Select, Train, Educate and Promote (STEP) policy on January 1, 2017.
Army Reserve Sgt. 1st Class John D. Frye, training noncommissioned officer, 335th Signal Command (Theater) was among the 26 senior noncommissioned officers from class 04-17 to successfully complete the rigorous two-week course here July 31, and he was the first from his command to attend.
“This was a physically and mentally exhausting course,” said Frye, a native of Festus, Missouri. “It was 112 academic hours of just classroom time. The sheer amount of in-depth material you are required to learn and successfully recall was by far the most challenging part.”
The course is designed to challenge and educate selected sergeants first class in the areas of professional writing, communication skills, public speaking, critical thinking, organizational and command leadership, management skills, joint and operational levels of war fighting, discipline and readiness as well as health and administrative requirements. In addition, students are exposed to topics like the Military Decision Making Process, joint operations and strategic thinking.
“Gone are the days of the open book and multiple guess tests,” said Command Sgt. Maj. Bryan S. Kernen, commandant of the Fort Stewart Noncommissioned Officer Academy, and guest speaker during the graduation ceremony. “The Army is trying to ensure we have analytical leaders who can think and understand a variety of situations and provide sound recommendations on operations to our commanders.”
Echoing the words of Kernen, Frye stated that MLC is much different from previous noncommissioned officer professional development courses he has attended.
“This course cannot be compared to the Advanced Leader Course or Senior Leader Course at all,” said Frye. “Those courses are military occupational specialty driven and have research based multiple choice tests. MLC requires much more critical and analytical thinking. For example, we were given 90 minutes to write an essay on mission command operations involving assertive and effective leadership, where we had to be as descriptive as possible using accurate definitions, while providing and expanding on an example that met the standard.”
Although the course was extremely mentally demanding, Frye admitted that it also had its rewards. “I thought I was just going to be steamrolled by the amount of regulatory and doctrinal learning in this course,” he said. “But in the end when you can actually write an essay and prove you learned and retained the wealth of information that was presented, it’s pretty rewarding.”
With the course now behind him, Frye is happy to share some advice for those who may wish to follow in his footsteps. “You have to come into this course with the understanding that it’s not like any course you’ve taken before,” he said. “Come into it with an open mind and be willing to understand that although this is something you may not have dealt with before, you may have to deal with it at some point in the future. Take the information, learn it, retain it and teach it to your subordinates to better prepare them for the way ahead.”
Frye also suggest Soldiers familiarize themselves with an array of Army regulations and field manuals.
“Everything they teach here is doctrinally based,” he said. “Everything they taught us has been published for years. The fact is that if you are not in the position that causes you to use some of those regulations or read them, most people won’t take the time to do so.”
Among those on hand to witness the graduation ceremony were two senior enlisted Soldiers from Frye’s command.
“I’m very proud that one of our own was selected to go to this course and has done so well,” said Sgt. Maj. Maureen Simpkins, G-3 operations sergeant major, 335th SC (T). “It’s a big accomplishment considering the grueling academic expectations of this course.”
“This was an amazing opportunity for us to have one of our warriors attend this course,” said Command Sgt. Maj. Ronnie Farmer, command sergeant major, 335th SC (T). “It gives Sgt. 1st Class Frye the ability to take the knowledge he has learned in this course and share that information with the field.”
Frye seems up to the task and is ready and willing to share his new found knowledge. “It feels great knowing that I’ll be able to take this information back home with me and use what I’ve learned to teach the junior enlisted and junior leaders,” he said. “Having the ability to show them this is what the Army wants, this is how they want it and this is where you go to find the information is a good feeling to have.”
| Date Taken: | 07.31.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 08.01.2017 14:07 |
| Story ID: | 243316 |
| Location: | FORT STEWART, GA, US |
| Hometown: | FESTUS, MO, US |
| Web Views: | 1,468 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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