It was a week to beat all weeks as the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy celebrated the accomplishments of the 499 students of Sergeants Major Course Class 64 -- a class that had within its ranks 38 international students from 24 different countries as well as members of the Marine Corps, Air Force and Coast Guard. The academy assisted in handing out 119 degrees during a Black and Gold Ceremony on June 4, followed by the International Military Student Badging and Hall of Fame induction ceremony on June 5.
On June 6, the graduates, accompanied by their family members filled the hangar bay of the 127th Aviation Support Battalion. Among the onlookers were two distinguished veterans of World War II, Mr. Angelo Basso, U.S. Army and the grandfather of Class 64 graduate Sgt. Maj. Teddy Perio; and Mr. Raymond Creagan, U.S. Navy, father of Class 64 graduate Sgt. Maj. William Creagan.
Command Sgt. Maj. Rory Malloy, commandant of the Academy, welcomed all of the special guests and thanked all for attending.
"On behalf of the staff and faculty of the United States Army Sergeants Major Academy welcome to this great ceremony as we honor and recognize the accomplishments and the achievements of this graduating class and our newest sergeants major," he said, and then outlined how the academy has made changes to the instruction received by the graduates of Class 64.
"Over the past five years this academy has transformed the Sergeants Major Course from the standard modular military structure to that of a university model. The new curriculum is progressive and sequential with specific core educational areas aligned with the Army's enterprise structure," Malloy said. "The transformation focuses more keenly on the attributes that are required of our sergeants major in today's Army."
Malloy informed those in attendance that today's Sergeants Major Course is a culmination of five years of looking at other courses leadership courses around the Army such as the Command and General Staff College and the War College, where they took the best of what they had to offer and integrated it into the course of instruction at the Academy.
"We continue to parallel professional military education at the command and General Staff College and the war college in order to develop a sergeant major that compliments their field grade counterpart in any arena, anywhere," he said. "The bottom line is this; we are developing our sergeants major to analyze situations and produce unique outcome-based decisions rather than simply performing a series of tasks one at a time only to arrive at the same conclusion each time. And with Class 64 our Army is in good hands."
Upon concluding his remarks, Malloy introduced Sgt. Maj. of the Army Raymond F. Chandler III as the keynote speaker who after thanking all for their attendance and allowing him to speak, turned his thoughts to the prominence of the day.
"I ask everyone to pause and reflect on what this day means," he said. "About 10,000 Soldiers did not make it off [Omaha] beach 70 years ago and their sacrifice directly impacted what we are doing here today."
After a short moment of silence, Chandler turned his attention to the graduates.
"Your years of training, the moment that you enlisted in the service and chose to be a United States Army Soldier, sister servicemember or one of our partner nations. I am not sure anyone thought they would be here 15, 18, 20, 25 years later," he said. "I didn't think I was going to be up on this stage as the sergeant major of the Army and giving a speech. Think about what took for you to get here; the Soldiers, the other family members, the people that supported you and your efforts to be at this moment and in this place."
Chandler told the graduates to be proud of their accomplishments and then challenges them to be the leader the Army and the services need to ensure they meet the challenges of today and the future.
"In our Army our number one priority is to ensure that every single Soldier is trained to their best ability to be ready to do what the nation asks us to do. Yes we have challenges with money and a whole bunch of stuff, but our Army has been challenged for almost 239 years," he said. "The future is going to be tough. It is going to be done with less money, less resources and ultimately for the Army less Soldiers. The demands have not diminished. So your duty is to ensure that the issues that come up as they are presented are managed effectively. You, sergeants major, you translate what the strategy is for the individual Soldier so that they can understand what needs to be done. And that mission will continue to be yours."
Chandler also told the graduates that he needs their help because we not only face a persistent enemy who wants to impose their will on the American people, but there are also internal issues that require leadership, their leadership.
"[We have] issues like sexual assault, suicide and hazing [which]are still important to the American people who demand that as an Army we be held to a higher standard," Chandler said. Until we are able to ensure that trust of the American people, what we have done here in the past year and what you will do I the future is all for not because ultimately we serve the American people. Without the recognition that if they challenge us and our ability to do what actually needs to be done -- to treat everyone with dignity and respect -- we will ultimately have failed as an Army. The legacy that you leave, will those who paid the ultimate sacrifice be proud of?"
In closing Chandler returned his attention to the World War II veterans and said he wanted to draw an analogy from their service and commitment.
For Basso, Chandler recounted his service from the time his Tanker unit was stood up at Fort Hood, Texas, until he went to the European theater to train other units to go to the front. Because the Army was taking so many casualties, Basso's unit was called into the fight.
"So at a moment's notice his unit was thrown into the fight," Chandler said. I think we need to remember that today; that at any moment we may have to deploy forces to do what needs to be done."
Recounting Creagan's time with the Navy, Chandler said after the war was over, his ship was tasked to go to China.
"A Communist general in China was challenging the 5th Marines and they called for reinforcements. So at a moment's notice this heavy cruiser and two destroyers went and displayed a show of force that caused the Communist general to withdraw his forces and secured the area with the help of the 5th Marines,' he said. "So when you think about that again, at a moment's notice. These two gentlemen are part of our legacy and it is what we do today. We deploy forces at a moment's notice to places to do things that may not necessarily be to kill someone, but to display the American will and impose that on an enemy. We are going to continue to do that in the future and we will do it with you and your families and we will be successful as long as we need an Army."
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. The Sergeants Major Course is a ten-month resident program of instruction conducted once a year at the Academy.
More stories and photos of the week's ceremonies can be found on the Academy's website at https://usasma.bliss.army.mil/ or on the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/USASMA#!/USASMA.
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