USASMA welcomes Sergeants Major Course Class 66

The U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy began its 66th iteration of the Sergeants Major Course August 28 welcoming in the 584 students who comprise the class during opening ceremonies in the Academy's Cooper Lecture Center. On hand to mark the event was Command Sgt. Maj. (Ret.) Joe Gainey, the first Senior Enlisted Advisor to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who was the guest speaker.

After recognizing the students who make up Class 66, -- 381 Active Component, 7 Army National Guard, 41 Army Reserve, two U.S. Air Force, one Air National Guard, two U.S. Coast Guard, three U.S. Marine Corps and 47 International students from 33 partner countries -- Command Sgt. Maj. Dennis Defreese, USASAMA's commandant, gave a brief welcome and then introduced the guest speaker.

"So there can only be one first and we have today the first SEAC -- Senior Enlisted Advisor to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs -- the first ever, William Joe Gainey," Defreese said. "Now it is pretty amazing to have a position where you get to influence not just your own service, but all (of the) services in the Department of Defense; to go around and to shape the enlisted force of our country and our enlisted education. He is a groundbreaker."

Gainey explained that he only had a few things he wanted to share with the class with the first being the topic of opportunities.

"I want you to know that this is an opportunity that you will never have in the rest of your career. You will never have a collective body of peers like you do now," Gainey said. "Opportunities do not just happen. Opportunities are presented to you and you have to have the situational awareness of knowing when to take advantage of what opportunities."

Gainey encouraged Class 66 to "drain the knowledge" of their fellow classmates; to learn what it means to be Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard; to learn why the4 Army is the way it is, why the other nations feel the way they do; get to know them and to get into the listening mode.

"When you are in class, promise me that you will get into the listening mode with an open mind, and you'll get into the learning mode for the things that you don't know," he said. "Listen to what other people are saying to you because you can't learn unless you listen. The opportunities to listen are great here. Then you have got to get into a learning mode. Learn what you think you might not know. Learn from each other, don't miss the opportunity because it is never going to happen again."

Gainey also cautioned the class to don't do the things they would not allow their own troops to do and to not listen to the masses when making decisions. He concluded his remarks by impressing on the class to stay focused.

"Focus on today. Don't focus that much on tomorrow or yesterday. You can't change yesterday and you are not mind readers. Don't worry about what might be and don't worry about what was. Worry about today and focus yourself on everything you do," Gainey said. "And lastly, It is not important to be number one. Just be the best at what you do."

The Army's culminating enlisted Professional Military Education (PME) institution is the Sergeants Major Course. This course provides tools to develop critical reasoning, creative thinking and decision-making skills. Soldiers are provided an education that teaches them to enhance their character, self-expression, and strengthen teamwork abilities. The course assists in the development of logical, practical and original reasoning abilities necessary for problem solving. Students analyze problems based on available information, arrive at logical solutions and decisions with reasonable speed, communicate reasoning and decisions orally and in writing, and supervise to ensure proper execution. Intellectual honesty, integrity, and professional values and standards are highly stressed. The SMC contains a total of 1,484.7 instructional hours, and is also offered as a nonresident course which culminates with two weeks of resident instruction at the academy.

Additional photos of the ceremony can be found on the Academy's flickr site at https://www.flickr.com/photos/133821783@N02/albums.