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ZVOLEN, Slovakia — In the early morning hours of May 18, an awkward silence filled a room in downtown Zvolen, Slovakia, where host nation and U.S. military members waited for one man to break the silence.
A young command sergeant major stood up and introduced himself to his two American guests. He was Command Sgt. Maj. Richard Fabricius, the command sergeant major of the Slovak armed forces, and he introduced Command Sgt. Maj. Vladimir Belus, senior NCO of the Slovak air force, and other host nation senior non-commissioned officers.
The NCOs met at the headquarters of the Slovak air force to focus on leadership and non-commissioned officer development.
The purpose of this visit was to provide command sergeants major with information pertaining to the NCO support channel, counseling and tools such as mentoring and sponsorship.
A team of two U.S. senior enlisted leaders, Command Sgt. Maj. Elwood J. Graham and 1st Sgt. Todd Heimer, from the 7th Warrior Training Brigade, 7th Civil Support Command, based out of Grafenwöhr, Germany, shared their knowledge on completing NCO evaluation reports, operating in a hostile environment and conducting convoy operations safety measures into operational planning with their counterparts.
After the fall of socialism and joining NATO in 2004, Slovakia went through a major reconstruction of its armed forces, including the NCO corps. In 2003, the Slovak military began implementing more NCOs into their ranks as never before, Command Sergeant Major Fabricius said.
The Slovak army is trying to model its NCO development and management to something similar to what the U.S. Army uses, he said. Therefore, there are things that need improvement.
“Our soldiers are first and foremost,” he said. “And every one of our soldiers should be aware of our commitment to be able to evaluate every one of them as objectively as possible.”
Command Sergeant Major Graham said it was motivating to witness the Slovak senior NCOs’ professionalism, pride and desire to learn new training techniques. The U.S. Army is not alone as it supports Overseas Contingency Operations around the world, he added.
“I could see the motivation of the Slovak senior NCOs on the fight in Afghanistan — who are getting ready to deploy next year,” he said.
The outcome of the bilateral training was that the command sergeant major of the Slovak armed forces tasked his senior NCOs to provide him with input on the improvement of the current Slovak NCOER based on the discussions at the event.
He said he would be speaking with the chief of staff of the Slovak armed forces on the NCOER implementation.
“Evaluations of our soldiers are very important to us,” Command Sergeant Major Fabricius said. “We are striving for excellence and hoping that the NCOER will bring us farther as a NCO corps.”
