CommunityEditor
02-24-2009, 08:57 PM
You might call it a flash in the pan.
Noncommissioned officers, it seems, will not wear chevrons and stripes on their berets after all, as authorized in a Jan. 7 operations order officially implementing initiatives for Year of the NCO.
The widely distributed multi-page document and dozens of annexes outlines the ideas and recommendations compiled since October 2008, when Army Secretary Pete Geren announced 2009 as a year in which the contributions and hard work of NCOs would be recognized and rewarded.
The policy change allowing NCOs to wear rank insignia on the beret flash is in a list of key initiatives titled “Pride in Service,” which also includes things like maintaining a Year of the NCO Web site, increasing the NCO Journal publication to monthly, improving the NCO Museum and changing the name of the U.S. Sergeants Major Academy.
But the beret policy would be short-lived and, apparently, should not have been included in the operations order at all, according to Sgt. Maj. of the Army Kenneth O. Preston.
“When the secretary made the announcement at [the Association of the U.S. Army meeting] in October that we were going to recognize 2009 as year of the NCO, there were some things out there that we wanted to, we were looking for ideas and that was an idea, a recommendation that came in from one of the sergeant majors out there,” Preston told Army Times. “We took a look at it, put it out there as an idea and handed it down and everybody came back and said let’s not do this.”
Preston could not explain why the idea was included in the operations order, but he was clear on why his senior NCOs turned it down.
“The noncommissioned officer is loyal to their unit and loyal to their organization as opposed [to] being loyal to themselves, and that’s how it was being viewed putting rank on the beret. It’s not about me, it’s about my roles and responsibilities as a noncommissioned officer to my unit and my organization,” Preston said.
Officers wear rank insignia on the beret flash while all enlisted soldiers wear their regimental crest.
Allowing NCOs to wear rank insignia, Preston said, would be contrary to long-held tradition.
“It’s about who we are as NCOs; it’s about the focus. Are you focused on yourself or on my unit or organization? It’s part of our heritage. The large majority [of senior NCOs] said, ‘No, let’s not change,’” Preston said.
Article: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/02/army_beret_rank_022309w/
Noncommissioned officers, it seems, will not wear chevrons and stripes on their berets after all, as authorized in a Jan. 7 operations order officially implementing initiatives for Year of the NCO.
The widely distributed multi-page document and dozens of annexes outlines the ideas and recommendations compiled since October 2008, when Army Secretary Pete Geren announced 2009 as a year in which the contributions and hard work of NCOs would be recognized and rewarded.
The policy change allowing NCOs to wear rank insignia on the beret flash is in a list of key initiatives titled “Pride in Service,” which also includes things like maintaining a Year of the NCO Web site, increasing the NCO Journal publication to monthly, improving the NCO Museum and changing the name of the U.S. Sergeants Major Academy.
But the beret policy would be short-lived and, apparently, should not have been included in the operations order at all, according to Sgt. Maj. of the Army Kenneth O. Preston.
“When the secretary made the announcement at [the Association of the U.S. Army meeting] in October that we were going to recognize 2009 as year of the NCO, there were some things out there that we wanted to, we were looking for ideas and that was an idea, a recommendation that came in from one of the sergeant majors out there,” Preston told Army Times. “We took a look at it, put it out there as an idea and handed it down and everybody came back and said let’s not do this.”
Preston could not explain why the idea was included in the operations order, but he was clear on why his senior NCOs turned it down.
“The noncommissioned officer is loyal to their unit and loyal to their organization as opposed [to] being loyal to themselves, and that’s how it was being viewed putting rank on the beret. It’s not about me, it’s about my roles and responsibilities as a noncommissioned officer to my unit and my organization,” Preston said.
Officers wear rank insignia on the beret flash while all enlisted soldiers wear their regimental crest.
Allowing NCOs to wear rank insignia, Preston said, would be contrary to long-held tradition.
“It’s about who we are as NCOs; it’s about the focus. Are you focused on yourself or on my unit or organization? It’s part of our heritage. The large majority [of senior NCOs] said, ‘No, let’s not change,’” Preston said.
Article: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/02/army_beret_rank_022309w/