JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. - When people refer to David Gallman as a “one percenter,” they’re not referring to his bank account, but rather the investment he has made in his 28-year Army career.
The return on that investment was beyond measure this past weekend when Gallman received promotion to sergeant major, a rank authorized to be held by only one percent of the Army’s total enlisted force.
“For me, it’s an honor,” said Gallman, who currently serves as sergeant major for the Army Reserve’s 72nd Field Artillery Brigade following his previous assignment as first sergeant for the Army Reserve’s Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 99th Regional Support Command.
“It’s something I strived for early in my career,” said Gallman, a native of Newark, N.J. “I didn’t know if I could really achieve it later in my career, but after coming to the 99th and being assigned to the first sergeant position… it became an aspiration of mine to make sergeant major.”
Gallman’s aspirations have led him through nearly three decades of Army service, which included a deployment to Kuwait from 2004-2005 running transportation missions to and from Iraq with the Army Reserve’s 354th Transportation Battalion.
“Throughout my career, I’ve tried to be a leader – someone who understands what Soldiers needs are, what Soldiers concerns are – and to uphold the Army standards and be the best example of what a Soldier should be,” Gallman explained.
“As a sergeant major, I want to get a little closer to the troops, see what Soldiers are interested in, what their needs are, and I want to be a sergeant major who is connected with the Soldiers and their welfare and concerns,” said Gallman, whose works as a civilian logistics management specialist in charge of the Transportation Services Division for the 99th RSC’s Directorate of Logistics.
One of Gallman’s passions is mentorship, whether instructing a young Soldier during battle Assembly weekend or coaching kids on the basketball court.
“I’ve tried to mentor Soldiers, and I hope I’ve accomplished that in a positive way,” he said. “I will continue to do that because that’s what was done for me, and if it wasn’t for that mentorship I would have never made the rank of sergeant major.
“On the civilian side, I work with youth athletics; right now, I’m working with young girls,” Gallman continued. “I tie a lot of what I do in the military, and the standards that are set in the military, to what I do in basketball. I try to get that across to the young ladies; I try to relate the respect and values that we hold in the military to what I do in coaching.”
As Gallman enters the next phase of his Army career, his selfless service – both in the military and in his community – is sure to pay dividends for the young Soldiers and citizens for whom he serves.