WASHINGTON (Oct. 5, 2009) -- Command Sgt. Maj. David Bruner, U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command senior noncommissioned officer, and John Sparks, retired TRADOC command sergeant major, introduced the new Institute for NCO Professional Development during a Sergeants Corner presentation at the Association of the United States Army Annual Meeting today at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center here.
A TRADOC-first, the Institute of NCO Professional Development will merge and monitor education and career moves for all NCOs in the Army into a single system, which will fall directly under Gen. Martin Dempsey, TRADOC commander.
"It's truly about noncommissioned officers leading other NCOs," said Bruner. "If you think about it, for those of who have been in the business for a long time, you know that NCO professional development was fragmented in many different domains. The Institute of NCO Professional Development is going to integrate all of the activities associated with NCO development."
Bruner also noted that the United States Sergeants Major Academy at Fort Bliss, Texas, now falls under the INCOPD program. This year, Command Sgt. Maj. Ray Chandler was named the first NCO commandant of USASMA.
A major component of INCOPD is the Army Career Tracker, where Soldiers can keep track of civilian education and military goals. The Army Career Tracker will also be made available to supervisors so they can monitor how each of their Soldiers progress in school and at work.
"The Army Career Tracker will not only tell you what you should be doing, but also what you should be doing next," said Sparks, who also supervises the College of the American Soldier (CAS) initiative.
CAS, a higher-educational program geared toward NCOs, is also included into the INCOPD. CAS draws participation from several accredited colleges and universities with flexible education opportunities and credit transferability in order to allow NCOs the same higher educational opportunities while maintaining an often unpredictable schedule.
Another objective of CAS is to translate military coursework into civilian college credit hours, permitting Soldiers to earn college credits for Advanced Individual Training, the Warrior Leaders Course, and Basic and Advanced NCO Courses.
"NCOs are defining and developing their role and contribution to the war fighter," said Dempsey. "The responsibility TRADOC has given them enables and empowers our NCOs."
"In the end we hope to eliminate bureaucracy, reduce the time it takes to find new things and new requirements, and bring up more leaders," said Sparks.
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