Signal leader signs off: Rowland reflects on 30-year Army career

Photo By William King | U.S. Army Command Sgt. Maj. Gregory Rowland, the 2d Theater Signal Brigade senior enlisted leader, sits in his office Dec. 21, 2018, in Wiesbaden, Germany. Rowland will retire from the Army in January after more than 30 years of service. (U.S. Army photo by William B. King)  

WIESBADEN, HE, GERMANY

12.26.2018

Story by William King 

2d Theater Signal Brigade

WIESBADEN, Germany -- When he retires in January, Command Sgt. Maj. Gregory Rowland, the 2d Theater Signal Brigade senior enlisted leader, will have served just over 30 years in the military. However, he said 30 years ago he wasn’t even thinking about joining the Army.

“I used it as an opportunity to get away and find out what I could really do. Once I got into the military, I came to find out that I really liked it,” Rowland said.

He entered service with his brother with the intent on the two serving together as 13F Fire Support Specialists. However, the Field Artillery’s loss has been the Signal Corps’ gain.

“For whatever reason, it didn’t work out and I got the opportunity to come back and choose what I wanted to do. So I said, ‘Let me try this: Tactical Telecommunications Center Operator, 72E,’” Rowland said. “It sounded good and I had the scores for it.”

After Signal training at Fort Gordon, Georgia, Rowland’s first assignment was close to home with the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Then, just two months after arriving at his unit, he was thrust into combat when his unit deployed to Panama for Operation Just Cause in December 1989. He said that while it was a short conflict, it taught him, then a 19-year-old private first class, quite a lot about growing up.

“I was suddenly out there doing things you only see on TV. I had to make sure that I knew what was expected of me, that people were counting on me, and the overall mission of what we had to do,” Rowland said.

His next brush with combat came more than 20 years later when he served as the sergeant major for a Provincial Reconstruction Team in Afghanistan from 2012-2013. Rowland said that while he gained invaluable experience working in a joint environment with a primarily Air Force unit, the deployment was not without its hardships and loss.

“At the very end of our deployment, we lost three Soldiers. I think about this all the time when the anniversary comes around, how could we have done things differently to not lose anyone and bring everybody back…” Rowland said. “That’s one of the things… you always want to come back with everyone that you left with.”

Throughout his career, Rowland’s true passion has been developing leaders of character that embody the Army Values.

“The most rewarding assignment that I had was as a drill sergeant at Fort Jackson. I really enjoyed that time because it was something outside of your career field, and it’s about helping people, molding the future,” Rowland said.

He explained his joy at taking someone brand new to the Army way and culture, and then transforming them into a Soldier and teaching them to work together as part of a team. As a drill sergeant, he also learned how to read people and have patience with them.

“As long as they are willing to learn and self-develop, I think that’s crucial. If you treat somebody with dignity and respect, then they’ll do anything for you,” Rowland said.

Rowland has served in 2d Theater Signal Bde. in leadership positions at the company, battalion and brigade levels, including as a first sergeant assigned to the 39th Strategic Signal Battalion in Chièvres, Belgium, from 2004-2007; battalion senior enlisted leader assigned to the 509th Strategic Signal Battalion in Vicenza, Italy, from 2014-2016; and since 2016 in his current position as the senior enlisted leader assigned to 2d Theater Signal Brigade in Wiesbaden.

“I’ve enjoyed my time in the brigade – the assignments, the location, and the people, that’s what really made it rewarding. I just wanted to make sure I leave this place better than the way I found it,” Rowland said.

Now, with less than a month before his retirement, Rowland said he could feel the time moving quickly.

“It’s going by real fast. I will miss most the opportunity to walk through the halls and talk with Soldiers and give them input and advice. I think I’ll miss that,” Rowland said.

Rowland’s change of responsibility ceremony is scheduled for 10 a.m., Jan. 16, 2019, at the Clay Kaserne Fitness Center in Wiesbaden.

• Date Taken: 12.26.2018
• Date Posted: 12.26.2018 04:44
• Story ID: 305036
• Location: WIESBADEN, HE, DE