State of NCO Development Town Hall 2 Will Focus on Leader Development
By Jonathan (Jay) Koester - NCO Journal
June 20, 2016
Download the PDF 
After every great movie, there is a sequel. So, it’s time for NCOs to get ready for the State of NCO Development Town Hall 2.
After the resounding success of the first town hall from U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command in March, Command Sgt. Maj. David Davenport, command sergeant major of TRADOC, decided to have another one. In fact, Davenport has announced plans for three more.
“The first town hall was an overview of what was coming their way, and it was such a big success,” Davenport said. “We touched more than 1 million social media accounts. We had on average 3,000 people in our chat rooms, and we went out to 18 countries, so it touched a lot of Soldiers with just a couple hours of hard work.”
The next town hall will take place this week, from 5 to 6:30 p.m. EDT on Thursday, June 23. The chat room will open at 4 p.m. to allow the questions to start rolling in. With a focus on leader development, NCOs are again encouraged to ask questions in the broadcast chat room at http://www.emc.army.mil/broadcast/, or on social media using #TRADOCtownhall.
The town halls are focused on the overarching NCO 2020 strategy, Davenport said. For the town hall this week, the focus will be on line of effort one, leader development. In the fall, Davenport plans a town hall on line of effort two, talent management. A fourth town hall will take place toward the end of the year focused on line of effort three, stewardship of the profession.
“For the coming town hall on development, we’re going to have Command Sgt. Maj. Dennis Defreese, the commandant of the U.S. Sergeants Major Academy, there; we’re going to have the Combined Arms Center sergeant major, Command Sgt. Maj. David Turnbull, there; we’re also going to have Army University sergeant major, Command Sgt. Maj. Michael Clowser, there.
Having set themes and topics for the town halls should allow for a discussion that is more relevant to the total force, Davenport said.
“Toward the latter part of the last town hall, it really got into specific Soldier concerns about themselves,” Davenport said. “What I’m trying to paint a picture for the force is, we’re looking out to the year 2020. … It’s not necessarily about them, here and now.”
As before, NCOs are encouraged to send in video questions before the town hall to be played during the event. NCOs can post a video question to Facebook or Twitter using #TRADOCtownhall.
“I encourage Soldiers to go to my blog site, tradocnews.org, and they’ll see ‘Straight From the Sergeant Major,’” Davenport said. “They’ll have to scroll back a couple of articles, but we hung the video, and the chat log from the first town hall, to be as transparent as we can to the force. All of that is still there. They can go back and review. And I ask that they read the NCO 2020 strategy, to really understand those items contained under the development line of effort, so we can have a great discussion.”
Davenport announced that the town hall will again feature a few special video appearances, with messages from Command Sgt. Maj. Scott Schroeder, command sergeant major of U.S. Army Forces Command, and Command Sgt. Maj. John Troxell, the senior enlisted advisor to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
“It’s going to be a fantastic event,” Davenport said. “I’m looking forward to it. I rearranged my whole schedule so that I can spend time with the leaders that are coming here, so we can be prepared when we go in there to talk to the Soldiers of our great Army.”
Participate
What: State of NCO Development Town Hall 2
When: 5-6:30 p.m. EDT on Thursday, June 23 (Chat room opens at 4 p.m.)
Where: www.emc.army.mil/broadcast
Social media: Find U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command on Facebook at facebook.com/USArmyTRADOC and Twitter @TRADOC. Ask questions or make comments using #TRADOCtownhall