NCO to Head Bliss Sgt. Maj. Academy

FORT BLISS, Texas -- The next commandant of the Sergeants Major Academy here will be an enlisted Soldier, breaking a 37-year tradition.

Command Sgt. Maj. Raymond Chandler is scheduled to take charge of the academy today. The school provides the Army's highest level of education for noncommissioned officers.

It had been commanded by an officer since it was created in 1972, but Chandler's appointment changes that.

"Having a command sergeant major in charge of the academy is just indicative of how much trust and faith we put in our noncommissioned officers," said Col. Donald Gentry, who commanded the academy for the past two years. "It also is indicative of how far noncommissioned officers have progressed in their education."

Gentry, described officers as "architects" who make the plans, and noncommissioned officers as "engineers" who get things done.

The change in command structure will be accompanied by a retooling of the school's curriculum to provide enlisted leaders with a strategic understanding of battlefields, something that had been reserved for officers.

"As the complexity of this persistent conflict we're in continues to grow, we as senior noncommissioned officers have to understand the bigger picture," Chandler said.

Urban battlefields faced by Soldiers in Iraq, Afghanistan and other parts of the world demand that leaders of squads and other small units be able to make quick decisions. The consequences of a bad decision can easily be recorded on a cell

phone and broadcast to the world, creating a propaganda opportunity for the nation's enemies, Gentry said.

"It's the complexity and speed of things," he said. "There's no time to report, have a decision made somewhere else and then have that decision travel back down."

In the past, academy students, each with a decade or two of Army service, would gather to share their experiences. They were looking for problem-solving ideas not found in field manuals. In the future, the studies will be more academic with courses similar to those offered to Army officers, Gentry said.

Within three or four years, Gentry said, the academy should be providing master's degrees.

"Not only will our graduates be able to speak the same language as their officers, they will be able to translate strategic and operational goals down to the Soldier," Gentry said.

In 1981, as the all-volunteer Army was establishing itself, the average educational level for a noncommissioned officers was eighth grade, Chandler said. Now, 94 percent of those who graduate from the Sergeants Major Academy have some type of college degree and more than 50 percent of those are bachelor's or master's degrees, he said.

"It indicates a willingness and understanding of how to learn," Gentry said. "Those are the traits that have made them the backbone of the Army."