ROCK ISLAND ARSENAL, Ill. – “No one is more professional than I.” The first words of the Noncommissioned Officer Creed are the basis of what it takes to become a member of a very exclusive Army club.
“I’ve always known about (the Sergeant Audie Murphy Club), hearing about it in my 18-and-a-half-year career, and it’s something I always wanted to go through the process to achieve,” said Sgt. 1st Class Terrance Porter, Assistant Inspector General at First Army Headquarters. “It was our former first sergeant, Joe Wertz, who challenged me to go after a place in the Audie Murphy Club.”
On Feb. 9, Porter got his place when he was inducted into the Rock Island Arsenal chapter of the Sergeant Audie Murphy Club – a club in which only two percent of Army Noncommissioned Officers earn membership.
“It’s humbling,” Porter said. “It makes me feel like I’m doing things correctly, to have others who don’t know me look at my everyday production and feel I have the traits and qualities of an Audie Murphy member: loyalty, discipline, caring and professionalism. It felt good to be recognized.”
The Sergeant Audie Murphy Club is a private U.S. Army organization for noncommissioned officers. It was originally created in Fort Hood, Texas, in 1986 to recognize NCOs who stand out amongst their peers and resemble the leadership qualities of Sgt. Audie Murphy, who, during World War II, received 33 medals, including every medal for valor America gives. Murphy is, to date, the most-decorated U.S. Soldier.
Earning membership in the Sergeant Audie Murphy Club is a difficult, but rewarding, process. To begin with, candidates must have at least a 290 score out of 300 on their Army Physical Fitness Tests and be recommended by a current member of the club. Finally, they go through three rigorous boards, in which the candidates must prove their knowledge of military regulations and demonstrate their leadership skills by verbally walking through scenarios made up by the sergeants major hosting the boards.
“We started the process with six Soldiers,” Porter said. “I was the only one who made it through.”
Porter said he welcomed the challenges involved in the process.
“Over the course of my tenure with the Army, I have always strived to make myself better each day, and I try to instill that in my Soldiers,” Porter said. “With (being inducted into the Sergeant Audie Murphy Club), I can lead by example and help those who want to work to get into the Audie Murphy Club themselves.”
While Porter has known about the Sergeant Audie Murphy Club for nearly 20 years, he said it was his assignment to First Army, and the unit’s unique mission, that motivated him to pursue the opportunity for club membership.
“This command is a ‘self-starter’ place; it teaches you to go after the things you want and make them happen,” Porter said. “Plus, here we train Soldiers and ensure they are ready to deploy and fight fast if they are called upon. Knowing that’s our mission pushed me to achieve more than I considered when I first came here.”
Porter’s drive to put his Soldiers before himself has impressed at least one of First Army’s senior leaders.
“I want to thank you and applaud you for what you’ve done up to this point in your career as a Soldier,” Porter was told by First Army’s senior enlisted leader, Command Sgt. Maj. Richard Johnson, also a Sergeant Audie Murphy Club member. “I challenge you, and I know you will, to continue to coach and mentor Soldiers to be like you.”
Porter is the first Soldier of First Army Headquarters to be inducted into the Sergeant Audie Murphy Club since the unit moved to Rock Island Arsenal in 2011. To help increase that number, Porter invited NCOs interested in applying for club membership to join him for his Sergeant Audie Murphy Club study sessions every Monday, Wednesday and Friday in the First Army Inspector General conference room from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.