The Equal Opportunity (EO) is an important program to ensure fair treatment, justice, and equity for all people. This program frames and enhances a comprehensive effort to increase human’s potentials depending only on their eligibility, ability, and efficiency. Commanders and Noncommissioned Officers (NCOs) have a huge responsibility on their shoulders toward their units; they should provide a positive EO climate for their Soldiers. Because NCOs are the number one factor to create a successful positive equal opportunity environment, they should implement a positive environment and a healthy impartiality atmosphere within their unit.
The Army provides fair treatment and equal opportunity for service members, their families, and the civilians who work within the Department of the Army regardless of their color, race, religion, national origin, and sex. These characteristics will not be the basis for training, assigning, promoting, or managing any service member. In addition, the Army supports an atmosphere that is free of discrimination and violation. Within the Army, the EO policy applies both on and off post, and during duty and non-duty hours; the policy also applies to working, living, and recreational environments. Equal opportunity violations considered one of the biggest difficulties that face today’s military, therefore, both juniors and seniors NCOs are obligated to maintain a positive EO program in their assigned units, and prevent any equal opportunity violations.
Knowing and defining the meaning of each equal opportunity violation will help understand the effect of each one of them on the unit’s morals and cohesion; it will also help determine the best course of action the NCO Corp can execute to prevent them from hap...
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...issue, it will create a psychological and an emotional gap between the victim and the NCO. In addition, it will produce a hostile unit environment, especially if the NCO took the offender’s side. NCOs must take full responsibility for their own actions and mistakes. Denying problems or pretending they did not exist when confronted, will result in a negative reaction, which will worsen the situation. In addition, NCOs must recognize how prejudice are their decision making processes, be aware of other Soldiers feelings when making decisions or taking any additional actions. NCOs must identify how their behavior and performance affect others, especially their subordinates. Finally, if all NCOs followed and lived the NCO creed and the Army values, they will success and achieve the military goals by creating a positive equal opportunity climate in their place of duty.
...at it means to be an NCO. These are our new instruments of war as we face this new, and often intangible enemy. However, it is important that we do not pick and choose which to heed. In our modern Marine Corps we, too often, become impersonal when dealing with those under our charge. We write on our standardized counseling sheets once a month, and are ever ready to serve up a negative counseling or a charge sheet. While these things have their place, we must make sure they do not replace the idea that we, as NCOs, are here to serve those Marines under our charge. No matter what the battlefield. No matter what the fight. NCOs will continue to be the backbone of the Marine Corps. As we press forward, let us never forget the leadership traits that guide us. And let us never forget the NCOs that came before us that taught us what being an NCO is truly all about.
The United States Army has been a leader in military prowess on the world stage since its inception in 1775, and with such a record, it is reasonably assumed that there must be solid foundation within the organization working to maintain the high level of performance. The Noncommissioned Officer Corps is one institution within the Army that serves as a large portion of this foundation that makes it the fighting force that it has always been, and the noncommissioned officers have been an integral piece since the very inception of the Army. The Prussian General Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, organizer of the Noncommissioned Officer Corps, encapsulated this idea when he coined the noncommissioned officer (NCO) as the backbone of the Army. (Arms, 1991) In an Army that is continuously adjusting to world around it while maintaining its status as the military leader to all other nations, the Noncommissioned Officer Corps has always provided the platform for continuity through a growing rank system based on its original core, an evolving training program to develop effective leaders, and a creed that moves us forward while remembering the rich history of the corps that came before us.
From family to squad members, communication acts as the cornerstone for a military officer, assisting in the mental health of the individual as well as facilitating the conduction of successful operations by an intricate, yet responsive, organization. Military officers are often times imagined as infallible heroes, unwavering against and untouched by the realities of modern warfare. Yet, newly commissioned, 22 year old officers often faces the arduous responsibilities of leading a platoon or flight comprised of men and women generally the same age as themselves into combat, or managing millions of dollars worth
LM01, Ethical Leadership. (2012). Maxwell Gunter AFB. Thomas N. Barnes Center for Enlisted Education (AETC)
The Army currently has an ethical code ebodied in the Army Values, which provides guidance to the individual and the organization. These values are universal across the Army regardless of an individual’s personal background or religious morals. Professional Military Education schools teach the Army Ethic and evaluation reports for leaders affirm this ethic. The Army punishes individuals, especially leaders, who violate this code. The Army administratively punishes Soldiers who do not adhere to this code, and the severity of punishment increases with rank. One recent and highly visible example of this is former General Petraeus’s adultery and the subsequent professional sanctions he experienced. The Army gr...
LM01, Ethical Leadership Student Guide. (2012). Maxwell-Gunter AFB. Thomas N. Barnes Center for Enlisted Education (AETC).
O'Keefe, Ed. "Minorities disproportionately discharged for 'don't ask, don't tell' violations." Washington Post 17 August 2010, Print.
Since even before the United States has been classified as a nation, African Americans have served in armed forces. From a little village militias to the army or sailors, African Americans have stepped up to help defend and eventually earn their own freedom. The battle for unification and for recognition of black soldiers has been a slow undertaking. It wasn't until after World War II that the U.S. armed forces became fully and lawfully unified, under a 1948 executive order by President Harry S. Truman. They were “unified”; meaning that the African American troops could be in the same regiments and squads as the white men. Previously they underwent completely separate training and were assorted to their own regiments. Throughout time many groups of enlisted black men have made up the hammer which broke down the racial barriers which were all too common up until about 45 years ago. All of this had to start somewhere, which leads me to the Revolutionary War.
As our forefathers before us stated, ‘‘No one is more professional than I. I am a Noncommissioned Officer, a leader of soldiers. As a Noncommissioned Officer, I realize that I am a member of a time honored corps, which is known as “The Backbone of the Army (“The NCO Creed written by SFC Earle Brigham and Jimmie Jakes Sr”). These words to the Noncommissioned Officer should inspire us to the fullest with pride, honor, and integrity. The NCO creed should mean much more than just words whenever we attend an NCO’s school.
The point I’m trying to get out of this is disrespect in the military is a big thing, especially dealing or being disrespectful to a Non Commissioned Officer. Disrespect doesn’t only have to be with Non Commissioned Officers, it can be with Commissioned Officers, Warrant Officers, and Senior Non Commissioned Officers such as (Sergeant First Class, Master Sergeants, Sergeant Majors, and sometimes seasoned Staff Sergeants). It can also be to your peers alike. Treat people how you would like to be treated. As my momma always said “If you don’t got nothing good to say then don’t say anything at
The gender integration in the military has always faced questions of social acceptance, weather society can accept how women will be qualified and respected in the military as today. As of today, the decision has been made and allowed women to fill about 220,000 jobs that are now limited to men which includes infantry, armor, reconnaissance and some special operations units. The recruitment numbers of women have been increasing since than which reflects the importance of severing as role model for future women to join infantry and other ground combat jobs which they have been prohibited from. Women have extensively served in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, but discrimination still continues till today. The military requirements are physical tests and standards such as long deployments aboard ships, exceptions for infantry which male units perform better than women. Women’s acknowledgement has not really changed which stated by Carter “ He said there are “physical differences on average” between men and women and that “thus far, we’ve only seen small numbers of women qualify to meet our high physical standards” for some units “ (Bradner, p. 3).There are not many exceptions for women fulfilling the needs to open opportunity jobs in the military but with little hope which men inhale the endurance and strength that are not viewed towards
The term “accountability” means the fact or condition of being accountable; responsibility. Perhaps the most important result of accountability is trust, which is an essential in any type of relationship. Being accountable to something means that you’re willing to make commitments and be responsible for your own actions. This promotes trust between you and the people around you. Whether you are in the battlefield or not you could always rely on the marine to your left or right. In the Marine Corps, the average age of a marine ranges from 18-21 years old. For some they treat the ages from 18-21 years old differently because how irresponsible they can be, but if you are willing to hold yourself accountable to this trust, you’re telling the people around you that going to admit it and make amends. Without accountability, you may only catch these habits when mistakes have already been made and your team has already suffered the loss. NCO’s are like mentors or leaders in our lives. They will come to you when they need a task to get done and if things get done correctly and efficiently and in return they will reward you with putting in some good words. This increases exposure that will lead to more broad opportunities in the Marine Corps.
Thomas N. Barnes Center for Enlisted Education (U.S.) United States. Department of the Air Force. (2012a). Diversity (LM03). Maxwell-Gunter Annex, AL: Department of the Air Force.
In the United States Army, there are two categories of rank structure, the enlisted corps and the commissioned corps. The enlisted corps within itself contains leaders, who are referred to as Noncommissioned Officers, or NCOs. These individuals, whose ranks range from Sergeant to Sergeant Major, are responsible implementing the guidance and command policies provided by the Commissioned Officers and commanders in their units. NCOs are also responsible for the welfare and training of junior personnel. The US Army provides regulations and manuals with step by step guidance for the most trivial of tasks, but it fails to spell out specific and concrete information on how to be an NCO. There are publications, such as “The Creed of the Noncommissioned Officer” and regulations on leadership, but they lack specificity and objective instruction for how to accomplish the aforementioned responsibilities of an NCO. The knowledge and skills of an NCO are instead acquired through training and experience, the products of which are NCOs of varying quality. A good NCO is one who knows and fulfills the written laws and regulations of Army doctrine, has the character of a good soldier and leader, and is able to strike a balance between written law and doing what is right even if the two seem to contradict one another.
Army Regulation 600-20, Paragraph 2-18b (3), Army Command Policy, states "NCOs are assistants to commanders in administering minor nonpunitive corrective actions." Note nonpunitive measures are not the same as nonjudicial punishment, which only may be directed by commanding officers.