Sgt. Dilcher,

Thank you for your thoughtful email regarding the Year of the NCO advertisement in the February issue of Soldiers magazine. All your points are valid, and we thank you for bringing them to our attention. In our effort to highlight the fine work the Army's NCOs are doing downrange, we inadvertently overlooked the details you pointed out.


The photos we use in the magazine have been released, and thus approved for publication. It is our responsibility to ensure images with the problems you wrote about do not make it into the magazine. In this case, as the editor, I failed to notice the issues. For that, I take full responsibility and sincerely apologize.


I do not know the NCO featured in the image. I do hope, however, that his fellow NCOs would use our mistake as a leadership opportunity and a teaching tool, rather than an opportunity to publicly berate the subject of the photo.


It is due to the efforts of Soldiers like you, that we are able to improve the content of the Army's flagship magazine. We value your input regarding the magazine's content, as well as your knowledge about the Army. It is our duty to make sure we represent the Army and the Soldiers that fill its ranks in line with the high standards that have been established and upheld.


The image was selected because we believed it told the great story of the many missions today's Soldiers are asked to perform. They complete their missions successfully each and every day, and they have our support and our gratitude. Thank you for your service, your comments, and your interest in Soldiers magazine.


Photo contest submissions


On behalf of the entire Soldiers magazine staff, I want to thank the hundreds of Soldiers, retirees and family members who submitted photos as part of the "Of Soldiers, by Soldiers" photo contest.


This month's cover features a photo (with background illustration) of an honor guard Soldier. The photo was taken by Staff Sgt. Cody J. Earl of Joint Forces Headquarters-Idaho, Idaho Army National Guard. He is the noncommissioned officer in charge of visual information, as well as a photographer.



We selected the image based on its quality and relevance.


We are planning to run photo pages in future months of the magazine, and intend to use some of the submissions we received in those layouts. I will do my best to notify individuals, should we decide to run their photos.


Thank you again to each and every individual who submitted. We sincerely appreciate your efforts in this endeavor, and more importantly, your service and sacrifices.


Sincerely,
Carrie McLeroy
Editor, Soldiers magazine