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Three Sergeants Major Inducted Into USASMA Hall of Honor

By Meghan Portillo

NCO Journal

September 11, 2013

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Photo by Meghan Portillo

Three sergeants major were inducted Aug. 23 into the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy Hall of Honor for their contributions to the advancement of the education and training of the NCO Corps.

Retired Sgts. Maj. Jeffery Colimon, Danny Hubbard and Jeffery Wells join the 23 previous inductees of the Hall of Honor who have had an overwhelming impact on the NCO Education System.

Command Sgt. Maj. Rory Malloy, commandant of USASMA, praised the accomplishments of each inductee and introduced Wells, who was the only inductee able to appear at the ceremony in person.

“Over the past 41 years since the establishment of this academy, we have had leaders at the forefront with the vision, the drive and the intuition to transform an idea into a product that produces a better noncommissioned officer,” Malloy said.

“Each of this year’s inductees was vital to the development and the transformation of our Primary Leadership Development Course into what is now known as the Warrior Leader Course,” he said. “Each assisted in the delivery of the residential courses within our NCO Education System to our deploying troopers in the form of mobile training teams, video teletraining as well as distance learning by means of online computer programming. Each of them worked together to bring to life the Structured Self-Development program as a means to bridge the gap in our education process, which was noted during the Global War Against Terrorism.”

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After the inductees’ plaques were unveiled, Sgt. Maj. of the Army Raymond F. Chandler III welcomed Class 64 of the Sergeants Major Course to the Academy and encouraged them to concentrate on their studies for the next 10 months. He told the approximately 530 master sergeants in the auditorium that the future of the Army is in their hands.

“Although things are going to become extremely difficult over the next few years, we can and we will move through and have a better Army than we have today,” Chandler said. “That’s going to take your leadership. It’s not going to take mine.”

Sgt. Maj. Danny R. Hubbard

Sgt. Maj. Danny R. Hubbard enlisted in 1973 and served in the Army for 30 years.  He said his cohort was the first to experience the newly established Noncommissioned Officer Education System from start to finish.

Hubbard said the lessons he learned in his Basic and Advanced NCO Courses, as well as in Drill Sergeant School and the Sergeant Major Course, helped him shape and understand his craft as an artilleryman and planted in his mind the importance of the education system to the Army and the NCO Corps. He dedicated the latter part of his career to improving education for enlisted Soldiers as the director of training and doctrine at USASMA, then as Training and Doctrine Command’s G-3/5/7 sergeant major.

While assigned to USASMA, Hubbard was responsible for the content and delivery of the Battle Staff NCO Course and the ALC – Common Core. He paved the way for use of video teletraining, allowing USASMA to deliver the Warrior Leader Course to Soldiers deployed on a peacekeeping mission on the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt. With Hubbard’s guidance, USASMA began to use the same methods to offer the Battle Staff NCO Course to Soldiers 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Hubbard said this ensured Soldiers received the proper training at the right time.

After Hubbard’s retirement, he served as the chief of concepts and strategies for TRADOC’s G-3/5/7. He is now the deputy director for the Institute for Noncommissioned Officer Professional Development, or INCOPD, at TRADOC.  He has been a key player in the establishment of initiatives including Structured Self-Development, the Army Career Tracker, the College of the American Soldier and the NCO General Learning Outcomes.

“Dozens of leaders throughout my service have taken a risk and made an investment in me,” Hubbard said. “When you are that leader, you need to be the one to take that risk and identify those who have the skills to lead with higher levels of responsibility. You need to be willing as a leader to do that. If you do, I think you will be pleasantly surprised at what they are capable of doing.”

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Sgt. Maj. Jeffery Colimon

Sgt. Maj. Jeffery Colimon enlisted in 1975. He attended Advanced Individual Training as an infantryman at Fort Polk, La., before going on to Airborne School.

Colimon’s 26-year career culminated as the sergeant major for TRADOC’s deputy chief of staff for education. During this assignment, he worked with military occupational specialty proponents to ensure all Soldiers understood their options for the future and had the opportunity to set career goals.

Since his retirement, Colimon has served as the Learning Integration Division chief for INCOPD, and has been the lead for the institute’s Structured Self-Development team since the initiative began. He joined forces with USASMA to develop the Advanced Leader Course-Common Core and traveled throughout the country to ensure the course was delivered to standard.  He also serves as the program manager for the Army Career Tracker. Colimon developed the program, which delivers tailored professional development modeling to all Soldiers and civilians assigned to the Department of the Army.  ACT is the Army’s leadership development tool, providing access to NCOES materials and the Army’s reservation system.

“The NCO Education System remains one of the most important aspects of a Soldier’s development and is critical to the overall success of the Army mission,” Colimon said. “The majority of my contributions since I have retired as a sergeant major have been to provide opportunities for Soldiers to discover all the training, education and experiential learning opportunities that are available to them.

“My education as an NCO helped me understand that much more could be done to ensure Soldiers are equipped to make the appropriate decisions at the right times throughout their careers. As senior NCOs, we need to ensure that we provide these opportunities, not only for him or her to become a better Soldier, but also to optimize the opportunities for meaningful employment and civilian life after the Army experience.”

Sgt. Maj. Jeffery J. Wells

Sgt. Maj. Jeffery J. Wells enlisted in 1978 as a field artillery cannon crewmember. His 30-year career led to an assignment as the sergeant major for Army G-3/5/7.

During his assignment as the TRADOC  G-3/5/7 sergeant major, Wells brought to light the need to increase the number of Mobile Training Teams. At that time, the Army was focused on the surge in Iraq and continued deployments to Afghanistan. Wells’ determination to aid those preparing to reset and redeploy led to home-station training.

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Wells also oversaw the transition from the Primary Leader Development Course to the new Warrior Leader Course and contributed to the establishment of the Basic NCO Course Distance Learning team, which developed and implemented the strategy that later became the ALC-Common Core Course.

In 2008, Wells became the Army G-3/5/7 sergeant major. He served as the senior enlisted advisor for three Army G-3s and provided counsel to two sergeants major of the army.

Among the accomplishments Wells has achieved in his career are the development and activation of the Army’s Web-based Structured Self-Development courses for enlisted leadership development, and the implementation of digital deployable classrooms, which enhanced the deployable military training team’s abilities to conduct NCOES at the WLC, ALC and Senior Leader Course levels for 21 MOSs.

“Don’t make the mistake of thinking everything revolves around you,” Wells advised the next generation of Army leaders during a phone interview. “NCOs need to remember that they were promoted to be the spokesman for that junior Soldier who would never work for the chief of staff, who would never work for the O-6, who would never work for the colonel. Noncommissioned officers are supposed to be both the voice and discipline for those Solders.

“Focus on your Soldiers. Focus on being a good leader, and your career will take care of itself. If you do the right thing as a leader, you will be promoted.”


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