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Noncommissioned Officer Research Paper

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In 1974, on Fort Benning, GA a group of men sat at the United States Army infantry school pondering words that would create a creed to which noncommissioned officers could use as a yardstick to measure themselves against. What began as the acronym “NCO” later transformed into the single greatest publication ever produced by the Army which is known as The Creed of the Noncommissioned Officer (Chandler, 2014). Contained in this one page document one will find a perfect combination of words and ideas that outline the basic responsibilities of a noncommissioned officer and additionally, this publication serves as a code of conduct for our soldiers to use today. Although nearly every noncommissioned officer could recite this creed on demand, not …show more content…

Given past events that have been observed throughout the United States Army Recruiting Command over the past 36 months, as well as the rest of the Army, it is safe to say that not every noncommissioned officer understands the definition of professionalism. Professionalism, a word derived from the root word professional, is defined by the Websters dictionary as “the conduct, aims, or qualities that characterize or mark a profession or a professional person” (Professionalism, n.d). Meaning that noncommissioned officers should hold themselves to a high standard of excellence and act according to the laws, articles, and rules that govern the Army. In doing so, many of the other elements outlined in the Creed of the Noncommissioned Officer will begin to effortlessly fall into …show more content…

A key component of the leader development process in the army is focused on maintaining the professionalism of or leaders, as well as those who lead. This effort of developing and promoting a professional fighting force is designed to enhance the army’s trust amongst all aspects of the army, it's service members, their families, and the American people (FM 6-22, 2015). As Secretary Colin Powell said in an interview at the Department of State's Dean Acheson Auditorium on October 28, 2003, Trust is the key characteristic that allows leaders to be great therefore, if a leader would like to take their organization to the next level then they need to build trust amongst their organization (Powell, 2003). According to army regulation, building trust starts with maintaining a certain level of professionalism. As simple as the first sentence of the Creed of the Noncommissioned Officer sounds, it is slightly perplexing that it could potentially be the single most import part of the publication. Unfortunately, building trust is not a passive action. There needs to be a direct effort made in order to build this level of trust needed to optimize a units performance. With that said, if leaders would like their subordinates to follow them purely out of curiosity, then they

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