The NCOLCoE holds virtual hall of honor

By Danielle ODonnellJune 19, 2020

Retired Sgt. Maj. of the Army Daniel A. Dailey (left) and retired Command Sgt. Maj., and former NCO Leadership Center of Excellence, director of Policy and Governance, Charles E. Guyette (right) are inducted into the NCOLCoE Hall of Honor, for their contributions to the lineage of the noncommissioned officer corps and the NCO Professional Development System.
Retired Sgt. Maj. of the Army Daniel A. Dailey (left) and retired Command Sgt. Maj., and former NCO Leadership Center of Excellence, director of Policy and Governance, Charles E. Guyette (right) are inducted into the NCOLCoE Hall of Honor, for their contributions to the lineage of the noncommissioned officer corps and the NCO Professional Development System. (Photo Credit: Danielle ODonnell) VIEW ORIGINAL

FORT BLISS, Texas —The NCO Leadership Center of Excellence held a virtual ceremony on June 17, for two individuals inducted into the NCOLCoE Hall of Honor.

Since May 2006, the NCOLCoE selects only those rare individuals whose unique and extraordinary accomplishments, separate them from all others as they have left a significant lasting positive impact on the training, education and development of NCOs.

Retired Sgt. Maj. of the Army Daniel A. Dailey and retired Command Sgt. Maj., and former NCOLCoE director of Policy and Governance, Charles E. Guyette are recognized for their contributions to the lineage of the noncommissioned officer corps and the NCO Professional Development System.

To date, there have been 36 individuals inducted into the HoH, who served meritoriously in positions of great responsibility and made significant contributions to the education of Soldiers and the NCO Corps.

The ceremony, though virtual, is no different than the events in the past.

The purpose and intent of the HoH remain the same. To welcome two more outstanding individuals into the HoH to join the ranks of those who provided distinguished meritorious service before them.

The first inductee, SMA (R) Daniel Daily, enlisted in the Army in 1989 and retired in 2019.

Over the last three decades, Dailey held numerous positions in the Army. He completed his tenure as the 15th Sergeant Major of the United States Army.

His influence in the NCO Corps improved the structure of the self-development program and he focused on making the call to the American Soldier more valuable to serving the soldiers' educational self-development needs.

Daily, opened his remarks by commenting on not being physically present to experience the induction due to the recent pandemic.

"We have all had to adjust the way we do things slightly, but as they say. We are all in this together," he said.

Daily added, "when you take a look at those who have been inducted in the past. There's a reminder of the incredible contributions made by so many over the years to advance the professional education of our noncommissioned officer corps."

Daily also made incredible contributions by improving the NCO development timeline and synchronized the relationship between professional military education promotions and assignments in a way that is delivered continuous, sequential, and progressive.

"The true value of all the hard work by so many is the product you have and will continue to produce for years to come. The Army will benefit from the world-class professional education it provides its NCOs," he said.

Daily explained how the U.S. Army NCOPDS also benefits our allies and partners.

"Over the past several years, our noncommissioned officer professional development NCOPDS has been the envy of every professional army around the world, many of which have molded or adapted their education system to mirror that of the work accomplished by all of you," he said.

During his remarks, Daily emphasized the importance of the accrediting the NCO education system.

"Accrediting our NCO education system is a monumental mark in our history, that will not only keep us in the forefront of enlisted education but change the lives of thousands of noncommissioned officers and provide them with well-deserved opportunities, well beyond their service in the army," he said.

The 15th SMA, both humbled and honored to be inducted in the HoH, concluded his speech with a final thank you.

"I'm truly grateful to be part of that. And for all the things that we did to make our NCO Corps, a little bit better than we found," he said. Daily added, "thank you to everyone at the noncommissioned officer Leadership Center of Excellence for this incredible honor. And thank you for all you do every day."

The second HoH inductee is Mr. Charles Guyette.

CSM (R) Charles Guyette served on active duty army from 1975 to 2005 and retired as a brigade Command Sergeant Major, and served 30 years.

After his active duty ended, Guyette served as a civilian in the federal service and retired a second time in 2019.

He served in positions of great responsibility with his final position as the director of Policy and Governance for the NCOLCoE.

During his tenure at the NCOLCoE, he led innovative and revolutionary change to the entire U.S. Army NCO Professional Development System.

In his opening remarks, Guyette thanked everyone responsible for supporting him throughout his career and paid homage to the great leaders he encountered along the way.

"I mentioned these exceptional people because they were leaders who gave their young leaders the flexibility to take risks, to innovate, to create the creative thinkers, and to solve the difficult problems," he said. "And were certainly your leaders long before we started using these buzzwords in our lexicon in developing our leaders today."

Guyette added, "I often use examples of their character as the best examples of what leadership should be."

He led the change in NCO education by leading the institution's effort to seek and achieve the Higher Learning Commission accreditation of the Sergeants Major Academy to grant a Bachelor's of Arts in leadership and workforce development.

"You've heard the accolades spoken to my accomplishments, but none of this would have happened if it was not for the great team," Guyette said. "Who really, where the cohesion that helped accomplish these lofty achievements."

During his remarks, Guyette spoke to the evolutionary changes throughout the NCO Corps.

"Like any soldier. It was our responsibility to improve the foxhole. Many may ask why this business was important to me."

"I was the product of the primary leadership course in 1977, and Advanced Leadership Course in 1987, in the Sergeant Major Course in 1997," he said. "I witnessed an insignificant change in our NCO leadership development. Change that was not doing justice to our NCO's."

He further explained how the Soldier of today is smart, agile, and adaptive.

"The young noncommissioned officer of today challenged us to give them the tools to be creative, innovative, critical thinking, and solve the complex leadership problems of today."

Guyette closed by charging the NCOLCoE to continue to be champions of change and to take NCO leadership development to new heights.

"That is our responsibility, our legacy, to allow those leaders to make those tough decisions in the heat of a fight to those present today," he said.

Hall of Honor inductees includes former officers, enlisted and Department of the Army civilians who have made a lasting and positive impact on the way the NCOLCoE develops, integrates, and delivers training and education readiness to the U.S. Army.