Photo By 1st Lt. Jonathan Sauls | Command Sergeant Major Michael Eilers addresses the Republic of Korea Army (ROKA)...... read more read more
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CAMP HOVEY, Republic of Korea — On November 24th, 2025, Republic of Korea Army Noncommissioned Officers (NCOs) gathered for a Leader Professional Development (LPD) panel session this week, led by Brigade Command Sergeant Major Michael Eilers, with instruction from Sergeant Major Jason Stacy, Master Sergeant Brent Blankenship, and First Sergeant Phillip Seward. The event focused on the fundamentals of NCO leadership in high-tempo environments: training management, communication, leader development, disciplined initiative, and building cohesive units capable of fighting and winning.
The Master Trainer: Training as an NCO’s Lifelong Craft
CSM Eilers began by grounding the LPD in a simple truth: NCOs typically live at the battalion and company level, executing more repetitions of collective training than any other group in the Army.
“In a perfect world,” Eilers said, “a platoon leader conducts two platoon live fires, a company commander participates in a combined live-fire exercise, and a battalion commander commands a rotation at a CTC. But a sergeant through a sergeant major will participate in dozens of these events over twenty years.”
Eilers emphasized that the expertise NCOs bring cannot be primarily learned from a book.
“They learn this through twenty years of repetitions,” he said. “That experience gives the bottom-up feedback that shapes how we fight. I have to put MY ruck on first and then tell Soldiers, ‘Follow me.’”
The CSM framed training management as the system that “meshes everything together” and gives Soldiers predictability. Mastering it requires understanding the commander’s intent in detail, locating points of friction, and positioning oneself precisely where confusion or risk threatens the mission.
Communication, Operations, and the Mechanics of a Mission
Eilers outlined that communication is the decisive skill for senior NCOs.
“The CSM has to find the point of friction, put themselves there, and ensure subordinates understand the intent,” he said.
Understanding subtasks, synchronizing mechanisms, and translating intent into action remain core responsibilities of the brigade’s senior enlisted leaders.
He also spoke on project management as leader development: “I’m giving you time, space, and understanding to do things that better the organization and better yourself.”
Positional power, personal power, and morale were also covered.
“You can’t assume the role of the commander; you have to understand how you communicate,” Eilers said. He added that morale underpins every action in a unit. Fit, trained Soldiers are confident Soldiers. “I’ve never seen a unit that was fit AND well-trained with poor morale,” he said.
Developing Leaders: BE, KNOW, DO
SGM Stacy continued the discussion with a question:
“Are people born leaders, or are they developed?”
He broke leadership into the Army’s framework:
He emphasized that a senior NCO knows they’ve succeeded when their successor could continue the mission seamlessly if they fell in combat.
Stacy spoke at length about moving to the point of friction.
“That’s the place where confusion or chaos will cause an operation to fail,” he said. “In reconnaissance handovers, or any complex transition, that’s where we put our senior NCO. The officer looks out and up. The NCO stabilizes the friction point and keeps the operation moving.”
Communication, he said, is the bedrock of synchronization.
“A Soldier who understands their task and purpose is a dangerous Soldier,” Stacy added. “NCOs develop the communication platform that gives purpose to action.”
Welfare, Commitment, and Disciplined Initiative
MSG Blankenship centered his instruction on the welfare of the unit, contrasting compliance with commitment.
“Compliance is easy… it’s telling Soldiers what to do,” he said. “Commitment is self-initiated. It comes with buy-in, allegiance, and ownership.”
He shared an example from his time as a first sergeant in a military intelligence company, where initial discipline problems were fixed quickly, but deeper commitment required shared purpose.
“It took understanding why standards existed, not just enforcing them, to build a committed team,” he said.
Blankenship reinforced that disciplined initiative is the heart of the NCO Corps.
“In the absence of orders, NCOs take appropriate action,” he said. “That’s what allows the mission to continue when things go wrong… or right for that matter.”
He stressed developing Soldiers to understand the boundaries of their decision-making and the purpose behind tasks such as PMCS, weapons maintenance, and field discipline.
“We want Soldiers to continue the mission while allowing officers to move on to the next problem,” he said.
The First Sergeant: Mission, Morale, and Mentorship
1SG Seward closed out the event with a candid breakdown of life as a first sergeant.
“The first responsibility is accomplishing the mission,” he said. “I have to ensure my company meets the commander’s intent. I’m the lead trainer; not the instructor for every class, but the validator of every leader.”
He shared his experience running E2B training validation for the brigade, emphasizing the confidence it built across NCO ranks.
Seward also highlighted the personal dimension of leadership.
“I expect my Soldiers to do hard things every day. But they need time to breathe and recover. My door is always open, and I need to know every one of my 140 Soldiers,” he said.
In Korea, he noted, the challenge is doubled because leaders must help Soldiers manage life an ocean away from home.
He stressed that NCOs must also be good battle buddies to their executive officers, ensuring logistics: beans, bullets, bandages, fuel, etc. are synchronized and that casualties are cared for without fail.
“I always put myself at the point of friction,” he said. “And we mentor two levels down so the whole team has a common understanding.”
The Heart of the NCO Corps
Across the LPD, one central theme was shared by the panel:
NCOs are the Army’s enduring trainers, communicators, and stabilizing force at the point of friction.
Their experience, judgment, and commitment, earned over decades, anchor the brigade’s ability to train, deploy, and fight as a cohesive team.
| Date Taken: | 11.24.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 12.02.2025 00:27 |
| Story ID: | 552716 |
| Location: | KR |
| Web Views: | 90 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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