|
[includes/l_menu.htm]
|
PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This is a book of quotations by and about noncommissioned
officers, and spans centuries of the Army’s experience in peace and
war. It includes all members of the Total Army: the Active Army, the
Reserve Components (Reserves and National Guard), the Army Family,
the Civilian Corps, Veterans, and the Retired Corps, and has three
purposes:
1. To share some of the knowledge and practical experience of
members of the Army’s Noncommissioned Officer Corps. NCO knowledge
and experience is invaluable, for the challenges of military service
can only be met through leadership, training, and teamwork, and NCOs
provide more than three-quarters of the Army’s leadership.
2. To recognize the contributions of the Noncommissioned Officer
Corps to the Army and the Nation, for as Tom Clancy wrote,
noncommissioned officers are "the guys who make the Army work."
3. To encourage more writing by and about the Army’s
Noncommissioned Officer Corps. NCO wisdom is both practical and
profound, and forms a body of knowledge essential to the
accomplishment of the Army’s mission.
Grateful acknowledgment is made for the support provided by the
staff of the Pentagon Library, Center of Military History, U.S. Army
Sergeants Major Academy Historical Office, U.S. Army Sergeants Major
Academy Learning Resources Center, U.S. Army Museum of the
Noncommissioned Officer, and the Office of the Chief, Public Affairs
(Command Information), in particular Debbie Reed, Dr. Robert Wright,
Linda Gaunt, Marijean Murray, L. R. Arms, Bill Morris, and
especially Dr. Robert Bouilly. I am very grateful to the following
individuals for their help in special areas: Susan Borcherding,
Gerhard Borcherding, John E. Morris, and especially Dr. Ernest
Fisher, author of Guardians of the Republic: A History of the
Noncommissioned Officer Corps of the U.S. Army. I would
particularly like to thank the following individuals for their
sustained support and help: Michelle A. Davis, LTC Dean Mattson,
Michael Selves, CSM Jimmie Spencer, Dr. Andrea M. Williams, Kenneth
B. Williams, Dr. Margaret Scheffelin, and Clifford Yamamoto.
A special thanks to the Sergeants Major of the Army, and to the
Noncommissioned Officer Corps, past, present, and future.
The Editor
©M. Merrick Yamamoto, 1996, 1997.
Reproduction in whole or part is granted for any purpose of the
US Government.
|