WBAMC, 31st CSH NCOs inducted into Corps

Photo By Marcy Sanchez | Noncommissioned officers stand while reciting the Creed of the Noncommissioned Officer during a U.S. Army Noncommissioned Officer Induction ceremony welcoming newly-inducted NCOs to the corps at Sage Hall, Fort Bliss, Texas, Jan. 24. Over 50 NCOs belonging to the 31st Combat Support Hospital and William Beaumont Army Medical Center were inducted to the NCO Corps.  

FORT BLISS, TX, UNITED STATES

01.29.2018

Story by Marcy Sanchez  

William Beaumont Army Medical Center

Over 50 newly-promoted noncommissioned officers (NCOs) with William Beaumont Army Medical Center and the 31st Combat Support Hospital, were inducted into the well-celebrated U.S. Army Noncommissioned Officers Corps during an NCO induction ceremony at Sage Hall, Fort Bliss, Texas, Jan. 24.

For more than 240 years, the NCO Corps has played an important role in the Army. Membership is reserved for enlisted Soldiers in the ranks of corporal and above and is a testament to the caliber and character of enlisted Soldiers.

“Sergeants, of all the NCO ranks, have the greatest impact on junior Soldiers,” said Command Sgt. Maj. Cheryl Greene, command sergeant major, 13th Expeditionary Sustainment Command. “It is the rank of sergeants that privates look to for example. The sergeant must be unquestionably competent to carry out the mission correctly.”

Since the formation of the Continental Army, the NCO was charged with instilling discipline and order in a unit. The Army’s first Inspector General, Maj. Gen. Friedrich Von Steuben, listed the responsibilities and regulations governing the NCO ranks in the "Regulations for the Order and Discipline of the Troops of the United States." Later, the manual became more commonly known as the army's "blue book."

“Being a noncommissioned officer is about giving back. It is about setting the standards, knowing and enforcing the standards. It is the hard right over the easy wrong,” said Greene.

In all, 54 Soldiers were inducted into the NCO Corps, passing under NCO sabers and being welcomed to the corps by Command Sgt. Maj. David Doubek, command sergeant major, 31st CSH.

For Sgt. Nathan McPherson, a pharmacy technician with the 31st CSH, being inducted into the corps is an altruistic act.

“It’s more for the Soldiers than it is to me because I get the chance to be their leader,” said McPherson, a Pensacola, Florida native. “I’ve always had great NCOs to lead and (train) me, that’s why I’m here today. They stepped up and led me to replace them so that’s what I want to do for my Soldiers.”

McPherson, who joined the Army in 2014, said he has had the support of his family since joining which also helped him stay focused. His brother, a reserve-component Soldier, was also recently promoted to sergeant, which motivated McPherson to keep pushing himself as a Soldier and now as an NCO.

“Sergeants have to prove to their Soldiers and their leaders, that they can lead from the front and know their craft. You are now the enforcer of standards and discipline,” said Greene to the newly-inducted NCOs.

• Date Taken: 01.29.2018
• Date Posted: 01.29.2018 12:06
• Story ID: 263680
• Location: FORT BLISS, TX, US
• Hometown: PENSACOLA, FL, US