FORT SILL, Oklahoma (Dec. 5, 2022) — It was bittersweet for Maj. Gen. Kenneth Kamper, commanding general, United States Army Fires Center of Excellence and Fort Sill, as he used some of the Fires Fifty truisms to express his sadness at saying goodbye to his battle buddy.
Kamper hosted a Relinquishment of Responsibility Ceremony for Command Sgt. Maj. Stephen Burnley, former command sergeant major, United States Army Fires Center of Excellence, to bid Burnley and his wife Victoria, farewell Dec. 5, 2022, on the Old Post Quadrangle.
Burnley embraced his responsibilities when he assumed his duties as the Fires Center of Excellence command sergeant major in July of 2020. From Day 1, he tried to live and exemplify the Fires Fifty, a list of 50 truisms collected across Fort Sill.
“Number 44 says ‘Get better every day as individuals and teams,’ and Burnley has no doubt embraced that mentality across the board,” said Kamper. “Over the last couple of years, we’ve seen his impact across Fort Sill and across our Army because he is committed to getting better every day and he drives that culture down to the lowest level.”
Kamper then quoted Fires Fifty #32, “High standards, positive outlook and excellence are contagious. If you have ever met him, you have been on the receiving end of his positivity,” he said. “Command Sgt. Maj. Burnley exemplifies our mantra that the Army is a people business. He has invested countless hours in improving the quality of life of Soldiers and civilians across post.”
Kamper said Burnley designed the Fires Center of Excellence commander’s coin, and it says ‘Fires Center of Excellence, Team Sill’ on one side and it says ‘a culture of values, resiliency, fitness: pursuing excellence in the fundamentals’ on the other side.
“It’s simply adorned with the crossed cannons of Air Defense and Field Artillery and is awarded to Soldiers and civilians who accept the condition to return the coin if the pursuit of excellence stops at any given point,” said Kamper.
Kamper said the coin represents that Fort Sill is an organization based on core Army values, cohesive team efforts and pursuing excellence in the fundamentals.
“Your wisdom, sound advice and expert leadership over the last 24 months have played an integral role in the Fires team of teams,” said Kamper. “Fires Fifty #45 is ‘life is more fun with great teammates,’ and life is a little sadder today as some great teammates leave us. May Block House Signal Mountain serve as your everlasting reference point as you continue to propagate values, fitness, resiliency and pursuing excellence as you get to the U.S. Army Security Assistance Command and Alabama. Our loss will certainly be their gain. We will miss you.”
In keeping with the Fires Fifty theme, Burnley quoted Fires Fifty #30: Love the one you’re with, whatever unit and job you have, it is the best in the Army – if not so, make it so.
“Maj. Gen. Kamper, I can honestly say I never had to make it so because I could not have asked for a better person to serve with,” said Burnley. “Your leadership, consistency on driving a culture of values fitness, resiliency, and pursuit of excellence on the fundamentals, focused on our most important resource — our Soldiers and their families. And the four areas gave a framework for leaders on how to put people first.”
Burnley finished with #39 ‘Leadership is a contact sport; it requires daily interaction.’
“Over the past two and a half years, I have seen this to be true. The leaders before us, out here on the field represent their units and directorates not on the field expertly handled a pandemic, the ice storm of the century, the snowstorm of the decade, deployed in numerous operations… they continue to turn civilians into Soldiers,” said Burnley.
“Those are just the big things. In their spare time they exceeded retention missions and improved the quality of life for Soldiers,” he said. “I truly thank you for your leadership and support. It has been a privilege to serve with you. It’s always the people that make America great and I’ve never been prouder to serve on a team that works with such amazing people. My family and I will miss you, and we’ll always look back on our time here with a smile on our faces.”
The ceremony ended with Burnley receiving a cannister, representing the round fired in his honor as command sergeant major of the U.S. Army Fires Center of Excellence and Fort Sill, and the playing of the Army song.
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