Monthly Archives: August 2015

Commandant, Courses, Home, Sergeants Major Course, USASMA

USASMA’s Fellowship Program logs on

The first class of sergeants major selected to be fellows in the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy Fellowship program, the Army’s premier noncommissioned officer degree and instructor certification program aimed at sergeants major who have potential and a strong desire to be an educator for our future sergeants major, completed their in-processing and received their initial briefing from The Pennsylvania State University. The 20 Soldiers were hand-picked to be a part of the program which allows them to pursue a Master of Arts Degree in adult education through Penn State. Upon completion of the program, the students spend three years teaching the Sergeants Major Course.
The first class of sergeants major selected to be fellows in the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy Fellowship program, the Army’s premier noncommissioned officer degree and instructor certification program aimed at sergeants major who have potential and a strong desire to be an educator for our future sergeants major, completed their in-processing and received their initial briefing from The Pennsylvania State University. The 20 Soldiers were hand-picked to be a part of the program which allows them to pursue a Master of Arts Degree in adult education through Penn State. Upon completion of the program, the students spend three years teaching the Sergeants Major Course.
William C. Diehl, Ph. D., coordinator of Online Graduate Programs in the Adult Education Program and Assistant Professor at The Pennsylvania State University, welcomes the first class of U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy Fellows who will spend the next year taking classes to obtain a Master’s of Arts Degree in Adult Education. The 20 sergeants major upon graduation from the program will spend three years at the Academy teaching the Sergeants Major Course. The fellowship program is the Army’s premier noncommissioned officer degree and instructor certification program aimed at sergeants major who have potential and a strong desire to be an educator for our future sergeants major.
William C. Diehl, Ph. D., coordinator of Online Graduate Programs in the Adult Education Program and Assistant Professor at The Pennsylvania State University, welcomes the first class of U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy Fellows who will spend the next year taking classes to obtain a Master’s of Arts Degree in Adult Education. The 20 sergeants major upon graduation from the program will spend three years at the Academy teaching the Sergeants Major Course. The fellowship program is the Army’s premier noncommissioned officer degree and instructor certification program aimed at sergeants major who have potential and a strong desire to be an educator for our future sergeants major.

Photos and story by David Crozier, Command Communications

 

The U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy Fellowship Program logged on with the Pennsylvania State University’s (Penn State) World Campus August 20 when the first 20 sergeants major selected for the program received their orientation briefings from their faculty advisor Dr. William Diehl, Ph. D., coordinator of Online Graduate Programs in the Adult Education Program and Assistant Professor at the university.

“I want to congratulate all of you on being selected for being fellows in this program,” Diehl said. “I will learn more about you in the next few days, but I am really impressed with your background. It is really a privilege to be here and work with you.”

With his introduction complete, Diehl spent two days with the fellows giving them an understanding of the Penn State community, online learning, resources available as well as the technology they will use, an overview of the program and main courses, hands-on library and research skills, and a question and answer period at the end.

Eluding to the fact that the sergeants major will be full-time students focusing on completing 33 semester hours of study in one year, Diehl said they were in a unique and good situation.

“Most of the Masters students are working at a professional job 40 hours a week and then they are coming to take one or two classes to get through the program. So it is a much longer process for them,” he said. “You have your own challenges because you have four classes going in and you are going to have to juggle that.”

Another challenge Diehl said the students have is the fact that some of the students haven’t been in school for a while and that there are all kinds of issues with distance learning, but there is a large support system for them to use including a whole team of military support specialists.

For Command Sgt. Maj. Dennis Defreese, seeing one of his major goals as the commandant of USASMA come to fruition and having the sergeants major on board to begin the first iteration, makes it all the more meaningful.

“When we picked the 20 fellows, I could see that their records were impressive, but now after having met and talked with them I am impressed with the level of talent we got and wanted to be a part of this. My initial impression is I think we made the right selection for this program,” Defreese said. “I am excited that this is finally starting. This is a big win for the NCO Corps and for our Army.”

The establishment of the Fellowship Program, Defreese said, also means the leaders of the Army believe NCO education is important and that NCOs can be critical thinkers and help solve problems.

“I think it says a lot about our NCO Corps, but it is really because of what the officers think about us,” he said. “They think that we are worthy of this kind of program and they actually believe that we are an important part, and an important asset to this Army and we bring something to the table.”

Selected as one of the fellows in this inaugural class, Sgt. Maj. Scott Cates, who has spent the last year as an instructor in the Sergeants Major Course, said it is a privilege to be selected and believes the program to be a great advancement for the NCO Corps and the Sergeants Major Academy.

A U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy fellow logs on to The Pennsylvania State University online campus during orientation briefings August 20. The 20 sergeants major selected to participate in the program which allows them to pursue a Master of Arts Degree in adult education through Penn State, will spend the next year focused solely on completing the program. Once the students graduate and attain their Master’s of Art Degree in Adult Education, they will spend three years as an instructor teaching the Sergeants Major Course.
A U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy fellow logs on to The Pennsylvania State University online campus during orientation briefings August 20. The 20 sergeants major selected to participate in the program which allows them to pursue a Master of Arts Degree in adult education through Penn State, will spend the next year focused solely on completing the program. Once the students graduate and attain their Master’s of Art Degree in Adult Education, they will spend three years as an instructor teaching the Sergeants Major Course.

“I personally signed up for this because I look at things as an opportunity,” Cates said. “This is an opportunity to make the NCO Corps look better and in the future I think that this will help me not only do a better job while I am in the Army as an instructor at USASMA, but it is something that I can take with me when I exit the military.”

Fellow classmate Sgt. Maj. Christopher Roche whose last assignment was at Fort Drum, New York, said he signed up primarily to give back to the Army and to help NCOs be better leaders. Being a student full-time, however, has him wondering how it will go.

“Honestly I don’t know what we are going to do for a whole year. This is the first time in my military career where we haven’t had to do school and work,” Roche said. “So a lot of us are looking at it as a higher level education that will have a lot more reading, a lot more writing, but we are forgetting the fact that we are not going to have a 9 to 5 job, or actually a 6 to 6 job, which most of us did before getting here.”

Roche added that once he completes the fellowship program, he hopes to use his education to not only improve the curriculum of the Sergeants Major Course, but to help him to be an educator in the field when he leaves the academy.

“After (teaching on) the platform it is actually going to help most of us who are going to go back out into the field to do NCO professional development, leader professional development, officer professional development and help instigate the NCO Corps more into the day-to-day operation as a resource rather than just a standard bearer,” Roche said. “I think this is a great opportunity and we should have done this many, many years ago. Our sergeants major are well-deserved of this honor and I am just happy to be part of it.”

Diehl echoed his student’s comments.

“My path was not a military path, but I have always respected the role that the people in the military play,” he said. “I feel a huge responsibility to make this program successful and to make everybody here successful and because of that I feel that this is an opportunity for me to serve my country too. I think it is laying a solid foundation for courses that will be taught in this academy and I think you are going to come out with exceptional teachers and leaders.”

Dr. William C. Diehl, Ph. D., coordinator of Online Graduate Programs in the Adult Education Program and Assistant Professor at The Pennsylvania State University, welcomes the first class of U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy Fellows who will spend the next year taking classes to obtain a Master’s of Arts Degree in Adult Education. The 20 sergeants major upon graduation from the program will spend three years at the Academy teaching the Sergeants Major Course. The fellowship program is the Army’s premier noncommissioned officer degree and instructor certification program aimed at sergeants major who have potential and a strong desire to be an educator for our future sergeants major.
Dr. William C. Diehl, Ph. D., coordinator of Online Graduate Programs in the Adult Education Program and Assistant Professor at The Pennsylvania State University, welcomes the first class of U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy Fellows who will spend the next year taking classes to obtain a Master’s of Arts Degree in Adult Education. The 20 sergeants major upon graduation from the program will spend three years at the Academy teaching the Sergeants Major Course. The fellowship program is the Army’s premier noncommissioned officer degree and instructor certification program aimed at sergeants major who have potential and a strong desire to be an educator for our future sergeants major.

The United States Army Sergeants Major Academy Fellowship is the Army’s premier noncommissioned officer degree and instructor certification program aimed at sergeants major who have potential and a strong desire to be an educator for our future sergeants major. Selected candidates pursue a Master of Arts Degree in adult education through Penn State. The program was approved by the Chief of Staff of the Army on December 11, 2014.

The purpose of program is two-fold. First, fellows are personal representatives, and even ambassadors, for the Chief of Staff and the Sergeant Major of the Army. In this role, Fellows provide the civilian community with a sense of what the Army is doing and how they serve as personal envoys for senior leaders. Secondly, the fellowship program is the Army’s response to the Department of Defense instructions that require each service to have these outreach programs. The Office of the Secretary of Defense guidance recognizes that fellowships provide “Unique Opportunities” for professional development that is not available with our own Professional Military Education Systems and therefore, the NCO program at Penn State will bring a distinctive opportunity.

For more information on the program, contact Sgt. Maj. Kristy A. Swofford, director, USASMA Fellowship Program at (915)744-8827 or email her at kristy.a.swofford.mil@mail.mil.

Courses, Home, Sergeants Major Course, USASMA

USASMA celebrates Women’s Equality Day

Story and photos by David Crozier, Command Communications

Members of Sergeants Major Course Class 66 perform a skit titled, “What do you see?” The actors, dressed as various occupations and individuals, begged the question, “What do you see” when you look at me as a woman? The students were a part of the Women’s Equality Day Observance held in the Cooper Lecture Center on the ground of the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy.
Members of Sergeants Major Course Class 66 perform a skit titled, “What do you see?” The actors, dressed as various occupations and individuals, begged the question, “What do you see” when you look at me as a woman? The students were a part of the Women’s Equality Day Observance held in the Cooper Lecture Center on the ground of the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy.

The United States Army Sergeants Major Academy officially recognized Women’s Equality Day Aug. 26 with a ceremony produced by members of Sergeants Major Course Class 66 in the academy’s Cooper Lecture Center. Class 66 student, Master Sgt. Teela Washington was the mistress of ceremonies and welcomed those in attendance and announced this year’s theme.

“Today’s theme – Celebrating a Women’s Right to Vote – Breaking the Mold – pays homage to those women who were willing to stand up against inequality at a time when women were not allowed to have a voice,” Washington said. “They were the first to break the mold.”

The event began with the reading of the Presidential Proclamation recognizing Women’s Equality Day followed by a skit entitled “Who Do You See?” The skit begged the question, “Who do you see when you look at a woman – a wife, sister, mother, grandmother, niece or aunt; do you see the faces of the pioneers who came before them? Or do they see them as society sees them – as a wife, mother, or caregiver. Do they fit the traditional image of a teacher, secretary, nurse, maid, or waitress? Do you see their potential to be an athlete, surgeon, CEO, firefighter, military police, or a judge? The question continued, “Do you see us as we see ourselves? Do you see us as we really are? We are all these things and more – Soldiers, leaders.”

The guest speaker for the event was Col. Carey M. Wagen, deputy commander of the Brigade Modernization Command, Fort Bliss, Texas. Wagen is noted as being the first active duty female officer to command a combat aviation brigade and the second female commander of any aviation brigade in the Army.

Col. Carey M. Wagen, deputy commander of the Brigade Modernization Command, Fort Bliss, Texas, was the guest speaker for the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy Women’s Equality Day Observance held Aug. 26 in the Academy’s Cooper Lecture Center. Wagen, the first active duty female officer to command a combat aviation brigade, talked about changing culture and being the best soldier, leader, regardless of gender.
Col. Carey M. Wagen, deputy commander of the Brigade Modernization Command, Fort Bliss, Texas, was the guest speaker for the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy Women’s Equality Day Observance held Aug. 26 in the Academy’s Cooper Lecture Center. Wagen, the first active duty female officer to command a combat aviation brigade, talked about changing culture and being the best soldier, leader, regardless of gender.

Wagen began her remarks with the story of her youth saying she never felt that couldn’t do anything anyone else could do and didn’t realize she wasn’t allowed to do certain things until she joined the Army.

“I think I first realized that when I was in flight school and I found out that I was only allowed to go on hueys, blackhawks and chinooks and I wasn’t allowed to fly attack or scout helicopters because at that time they had a direct combat role which excluded women from roles that put you in direct combat,” Wagen said. “It seems rather naive today when you think about the last 13 years and where we have put women in combat. Even though I didn’t dwell on what I couldn’t do; I focused on what I could do.”

Wagen said her parents always taught her to be the best at whatever she decided to do with her life. So she decided to be the best at what the Army offered her. She added that she personally doesn’t think she broke any molds, only worked hard to progress through the ranks like her male peers. The only difference being was that she was a woman.

“Looking at the statistics women don’t make up 50 percent of the Army, only about 15-18 percent. So I suppose I unintentionally broke the mold because there is not a lot of us in the Army,” she said. “I know I was the first woman to command a combat aviation brigade. That is not what I was focused on, and it wasn’t because I did anything different than any of my peers. It was a long tough road with many gates I achieved not because I am a woman, but because I strived to be the best Soldier and best officer that I could be, and I worked hard at it.”

Jokingly she added she did not have to work hard at being a women; she had no vote in that and said you are what you are when you are born and you make the most of what you have. The only vote she did have was how she saw herself – a Soldier first, then an officer and finally a leader which happens to be a woman.

Attendees to Sergeants Major Course Class 66 Women’s Equality Day observance were greeted by protesters adorned in period clothing of the women’s suffrage movement of the late 1800s. The protestors chanted “we want the right to vote.” As the circled the foyer to the Cooper Lecture Center located on the ground of the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy.
Attendees to Sergeants Major Course Class 66 Women’s Equality Day observance were greeted by protesters adorned in period clothing of the women’s suffrage movement of the late 1800s. The protestors chanted “we want the right to vote.” As the circled the foyer to the Cooper Lecture Center located on the ground of the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy.

“That is how I want others to see me. When I walk into a room I don’t want somebody to say who is that female. In fact I don’t like the term female and male because this is not science class. We are men and women,” she said. “I acknowledge the fact that I am a woman, and there are a lot more men in this room than me, but I see Soldiers, leaders, future command sergeants major, and I like people to see me as a colonel, an officer, a leader, and a Soldier first. Not the fact that I am a woman.”

Wagen said the culture is changing and that she is pleased with the direction the Army and the military is going and said the fears and concerns about standards being changed or not upheld is all on “our shoulders as leaders.”

“As long as we as the Army, as a military, as a senior leaders, ensure that the standards required for the job are the standards that we must meet, then there should be no questions whether or not that ranger tabs is earned,” she said. “As a leader I recognize my responsibility to value, encourage and prepare both men and women for the challenges of being a Soldier in today’s volatile world. Whether you were born a man or woman, we are all capable Soldiers. We all have contributions to the fight.”

For more photos of the event visit the USASMA flickr site at https://www.flickr.com/photos/133821783@N02/albums.