By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service
MANILA, Philippines, July 16, 2012 –
Saluting the growing professionalism of the Philippine military’s
noncommissioned officer corps, U.S. Pacific Command’s senior enlisted advisor
encouraged students at the sergeants major academy here to embrace
opportunities opening to them and to become engines for continued progress.
Navy Command Master Chief Petty Officer
Mark W. Rudes, traveling in the Philippines with Navy Adm. Samuel J. Locklear
III, the Pacom commander, spoke today with 64 Philippine NCOs slated to
graduate this week from the country’s top joint-service academy.
Rudes noted growing recognition within
the Armed Forces of the Philippines and other advanced militaries around the
world that “the noncommissioned officer is the backbone of your success as a
military.”
But it’s a principle, he acknowledged,
that has gained acceptance more quickly in some countries’ officer corps than
others. Rudes challenged the next generation of senior Philippine NCOs to take
advantage of the changing mindset within their military as they apply their
strengths and talents to help their military advance.
“You are going to find that your
up-and-coming junior officers are learning an awful lot about what capability a
professional NCO corps brings to the military,” he told the class.
After office calls today with Marine
Sgt. Maj. Edilberto Lustre, the AFP’s senior NCO, and Navy Capt. Allan Rusal,
chief of staff of the Command and General Staff College, Rudes said he’s
encouraged to learn that mid-range and senior officers, too, are enthusiastic
about the potential this offers.
“Many of you are in a position now where
you are going to see the fruits of that kind of thought process, because
[officers] are going to increasingly turn to you and draw on your ideas and
your capabilities,” Rudes told the NCOs. “I think that you are going to see
that your officer corps is going to slowly start utilizing you in the capacity
that you are being trained in.”
That’s particularly important now, he
said, as the AFP transforms from an internally directed and largely
army-centric force. In support of its enhanced maritime security focus, the
decommissioned U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Dallas recently joined the Philippine
navy.
“Now that you are starting to look
outward at maritime threats and external threats, as opposed to inward, it is
going to open up new opportunities,” Rudes said.
He reminded them of the important role
they will play in this transition, encouraging them to take charge of key areas
such as maintenance and the training that must underpin it.
“Hopefully you can take some of the
skills you have learned in this school setting as you go to the field, the deck
plates, the air strips … and use that to advance to the next level,” he said.
As they do so, Rudes encouraged the
class members to seek out opportunities to exercise and train with their U.S.
allies.
U.S. military training and education
programs all recognize the role of NCOs, Rudes said.
“If you want to advance your military to
the next level,” he added, “you absolutely need to empower your NCO corps and
professionalize your noncommissioned officers so you can raise that overall
bar.”
Although the U.S. has always held its
NCO corps in esteem, Rudes told the class it’s only more recently begun to tap
into its full capability. “I will tell you, in my time in service, our
[military] has really turned to and tasked the NCO corps to take on an awful
lot more of a leadership role in strategy development and changing our
military’s ways of training, managing and equipping so we can be more efficient
and more effective,” he said.
That capability, he said, comes
primarily through the core NCO mission of taking care of people and developing
their skills and leadership potential.
“It is not necessarily doing things for
them,” Rudes emphasized. “You are challenging your soldiers, your marines, your
sailors, your airmen to make the most of their time and their service with you.
And in doing so, you are also looking out for their interests to remove
obstacles, communicate with them and show them that they can become
successful.”
Sharing his own experience, Rudes urged
the Philippine NCOs to measure their own success through that of the service
members they lead.
“I don’t need anybody to tell me I am
doing a good job. I don’t need anybody to give me an award or recognize me in
some way,” he told them. “I just look back at the sailors that I have had the
privilege to be in charge of. And if they have succeeded in accomplishing the
things that they need to, that, to me, is success.”
By Mass Communication Specialist 2nd
Class Amanda L. Kilpatrick, USS Abraham Lincoln Public Affairs
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