Fort Leonard Wood holds change of responsibility, retirement ceremony for top NCO

FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. -- The Maneuver Support Center of Excellence and Fort Leonard Wood held a change of responsibility and retirement ceremony for the post's highest ranking noncommissioned officer March 11 at Nutter Field House.

Maj. Gen. Mark Yenter, MSCoE and Fort Leonard Wood's commanding general, presided over the ceremony where Command Sgt. Maj. Robert Wells passed the installation's most senior enlisted responsibilities to Command Sgt. Maj. Terrence Murphy.

Yenter thanked Wells, who plans to retire after 33 years in the Army, for his dedicated service to our country and for always leading by example, always putting soldiers first, and demonstrating remarkable tenacity to get the mission accomplished.

"On any given day at Fort Leonard Wood, we've got about 7,000 soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines, that are part of the permanent party, who are training somewhere between 11 and 12,000 soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines," Yenter said. "Over a one year period we'll train about 80,000 soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines. That's a big responsibility. Command Sgt. Maj. Wells took that responsibility on and he did it in a fantastic fashion."

Yenter credited Wells for improving drill sergeant manning numbers and said that increasing the number to near 100 percent is important because it means the installation has enough drill sergeants to provide a safe and challenging training environment.

Yenter welcomed Murphy, a veteran of several deployments and combat tours, who joins the MSCoE team from the U.S. Army Engineer School where he most recently served as the regimental command sergeant major.

Murphy is known throughout the engineer regiment as a mentor, skilled warrior, and outstanding role model, making him well suited to lead at the Maneuver Support Center of Excellence, Yenter said.

I know you'll continue to do great things, he said.

The command sergeant major carries out policies and standards of the performance, training, appearance, and conduct of enlisted personnel. The command sergeant major advises and initiates recommendations to the commander and staff in matters pertaining to the local noncommissioned officer support channel.

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