USASMA Welcomes Class 65

By Mr. David B Crozier (TRADOC)August 25, 2014

SMA Chandler addresses Sergeants Major Course Class 65
1 / 3 Show Caption + Hide Caption – Sergeant Major of the Army Raymond F. Chandler III served as the guest speaker for the opening ceremonies of Sergeants Major Course Class 65 held Aug. 22 in the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy's Cooper Lecture Center. Class 65 begins their 10-month... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
Class 65 holds opening ceremonies
2 / 3 Show Caption + Hide Caption – The 465 members of Sergeants Major Course Class 65 listen intently to guest speaker Sgt. Maj. of the Army Raymond F. Chandler III as he challenges the class to think about the future and how they will shape it. Class 65 begins their 10-month course o... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
SMA challenges Class 65 to look to future of force
3 / 3 Show Caption + Hide Caption – Sergeant Major of the Army Raymond F. Chandler III served as the guest speaker for the opening ceremonies of Sergeants Major Course Class 65 held Aug. 22 in the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy's Cooper Lecture Center. He challenged the students to ... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

The U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy officially welcomed the 465 students of Sergeants Major Course Class 65 during ceremonies Aug. 22 at the Academy's Cooper Lecture. Among the many dignitaries present to mark the event was Sgt. Maj. of the Army Raymond F. Chandler III who was also the guest speaker.

Before Chandler spoke, those in attendance were treated to a quick narrated history of the Sergeants Major Course as well as the diverse makeup of Class 65. Of particular note, this year's class boasts two Sergeants Major of the Army equivalents from the international student body: Sergeant Major of the Army for Guyana, Sergeant Major William Richmond; and Sergeant Major of the Army for Montenegro, Sgt. Maj. of the Army Vladan Kojic.

With the pomp completed, it was now time for the circumstance. Command Sgt. Maj. Dennis Defreese, the 21st commandant and the third enlisted commandant, of USASMA introduced Chandler as the guest speaker.

"Now at this point this class has already heard me speak about a half a dozen times. I am tired of hearing my own voice and I know they are probably also, so I am going to get on with introducing the guest speaker for this morning's opening ceremony," Defreese said. "I am not going to read his bio, but I am going to introduce him based on his accomplishments, not necessarily in order of importance. He is the husband of Jean Chandler; the 19th commandant and first enlisted commandant of the United States Army Sergeants Major Academy; the 14th Sergeant Major of the Army, and a Soldier. Sgt. Maj. of the Army Raymond F. Chandler."

Chandler thanked Defreese for inviting him to speak at the event and then turned his attention to the students.

"I want to give you just a little bit of history and I want you to recognize something about your faculty and I think you need to understand from a historical perspective just how far we as noncommissioned officers and the corps of noncommissioned officers have come," Chandler said. "What a lot of people don't know is that in 1973 at least half of the staff and faculty, including the teachers in the classroom were officers. They were not noncommissioned officers or retired noncommissioned officers. They were officers and if you think about our education system since 1973 until today, the strides of those who have come before us and those who will teach you now got us to a point where the academy has no assigned officers."

Chandler said the trust between NCOs and officers is more manifested at USASMA.

"You talk about things like Fort Bragg as the center of the universe; Fort Hood the great place; this is the center of the NCO Corps. Anything that applies to an NCO is either touched, or developed, or reviewed, or approved through this location," Chandler said. "So I want you to do as you are here over this year is to think about what is next. What's next for the United States Army NCO Corps? For the Marine Corps? For the Coast Guard? For Afghanistan? For Jordan? What do you want your armies, your services to be?"

Chandler asked the students to think about what they want their NCOs to be able to do in the future, adding that they, the future sergeants major will be the ones who will lead the Army into the future.

"You will decide what the NCO Corps will be and if you look at many of the challenges that we have today within our army, or what the future will be, it will be an NCO at the end of the day that will get that last 300 yards," Chandler said. "You have to decide what the future will look like. When you graduate as a class, as a body, the connections that you make here will unify the effort about the path ahead for us as an Army, for our Nation and for the noncommissioned officer corps."

Class 65's motto is "Strength in Diversity." The makeup of the class consists of 351 students from the active Army; 14 from the Army National Guard; 54 from the Army Reserve; two from the U.S. Air Force; one from the U.S. Coast Guard; six from the U.S. Marine Corps; and 37 international students from 30 countries.

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.