Sergeant Major of the Army Dan Dailey has made some big moves in his first year as the service’s top enlisted soldier, and he’s just getting started.
Coming into the job in January 2015 at age 42 — making him the youngest SMA in Army history — Dailey already had a long to-do list, focusing on professional military education, readiness, robust training, physical fitness, and helping soldiers transition smoothly into civilian life.He's made advances on all these subjects, but in an interview with Army Times he outlines his new priorities sure to affect soldier lives and careers.
The first five are good, sound initiatives. The sixth… well, NCOs implement policy. If the Army is forced to have women in combat arms, the NCO corps better make it as successful (or at least as little damaging) as possible.
As a rule of thumb, we think most Sergeant Major positions above the Brigade level do little beyond generating reams of additional paperwork.
Having said that, we've been consistently impressed with Dailey.
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