Courtesy Photo | Second Infantry Division Command Sgt. Maj. Michael Eye takes time to talk with...... read more read more
Subscribe
CAMP RED CLOUD, South Korea – At precisely 5 o’clock, amidst the chaos of the Division headquarters building and its papers shuffling, phones ringing and computers buzzing, the faint bugle call to the sound of “Retreat” could be heard.
Most days the notes go unnoticed as background noise sets to the beat of the daily rhythm of staff life. This day, the soldiers in the office of the Division command sergeant major slid back their chairs swiftly upon hearing the call and stood at attention.
“It’s the right thing to do,” said the Division’s new senior enlisted adviser, Command Sergeant Major Michael Eyer. “Customs and courtesies, if they are not enforced by NCOs and leaders in general, we lose them.”
Eyer said the idea of standing at attention indoors during the playing of “Retreat” and “To the Colors” is not anything new; what might be new is the enforcement of it.
He continued, “We have to maintain discipline. We have to do it through customs and courtesies. It helps continue to build pride in being a soldier.”
“When you first meet him, you think he looks mean as a pit bull, like a sergeant major out of a movie,” said Division Commander Maj. Gen. Michael Tucker, “Then you talk to him for a few minutes and he blows you away with his brilliance.”
Division Operations Officer Col. Matthew McKenna said it’s not about him being mean, “there’s just no question where he is coming from when enforcing standards.”
Eyer is coming from a long life of military service. Raised early-on in Indiana, he moved to England with his family when he was eight years old and joined the British military in1970 at the age of 15.
“I was a boy soldier,” Eyer said. Back then, it was typical for British soldiers to be as young as Eyer was. Today, the minimum age for a United Kingdom recruit is 16-and-a-half, but troops cannot take part in operations until age 18.
Even before he enlisted in the Army, Eyer’s military indoctrination began informally at home. He was born in Norfolk, England on a U.S. Air Force base. As a boy of a military father, he learned leadership at a young age.
For him, identifying leaders early on is good for the Army.
“Too often we wait for a soldier to be a sergeant before we promote him, instead of promoting privates to be sergeants,” said Eyer.
He wants to develop a program within the Division footprint that allows leaders to send capable troops to the Warrior Leader Course and to the promotion board earlier than they usually would.
As the former command sergeant major of the U.S. Army Combat Readiness and Safety Center, Eyer believes giving troops tools, like composite risk management and resiliency skills, and empowering them to use them, creates troops who are able to find adventure and face stress while practicing risk mitigation.
Something of a dare devil himself, “I’ve done a lot of scary things,” he said, but contends he wouldn’t be the person he is today if he hadn’t taken risks.
“I never did anything really idiotic, but if you look back at how we conducted business 20 years ago, we’re a lot smarter now,” he said.
Eyer was conquering the most grueling and elite units in the British Army when he decided to take another leap. In September 1984, he changed the flag on his uniform, becoming a U.S. Army infantryman.
“I wanted to pay my dues to the country I love and grew up in,” said Eyer.
While wearing the stars and stripes, he served in some of the most elite units in the U.S. Army, including the 75th Ranger Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division, and the 25th Infantry Division.
His lifetime in arms has taught him how to understand soldiers and their relationship within a unit.
“Reception and integration is one of those flashpoints in a soldier’s career when we can catch, harness, change or redirect,” said Eyer.
One of Eyer’s goals for the Division is to enliven the reception and integration programs welcoming soldiers and families into the fold as part of the bigger 2nd ID family.
“It starts at reception,” Eyer said. “That first impression when a soldier arrives at the 2nd Infantry Division, he needs to be treated like a king; the family too,” he continued.
Eyer said he knows from experience how family members play a major role in strengthening the bond between the newcomer and the unit.
“I become Pvt. Eyer when I walk through [my house] door. She is in charge,” Eyer said.
The proper British-intellectual speak changed to playful boy-soldier as he talked about his closest battle buddy, wife of 20 years, Regina.
“If ‘Lipstick-Six’ isn’t happy, I’m not happy,” Eyer joked about Regina who will be joining him this summer after their youngest son finishes the school year.
| Date Taken: | 03.01.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 03.07.2011 23:42 |
| Story ID: | 66655 |
| Location: | CAMP RED CLOUD, BUSAN GWANG'YEOGSI [PUSAN-KWANGYOKSHI], KR |
| Web Views: | 352 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
This work, Eyer: Enforce customs and courtesies; treat new Soldiers, Families like royalty, by MSG Michelle Johnson, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
