Senior Soldier retires after 27 years

As a basic trainee 27 years ago, future Command Sgt. Maj. Bryan McGhee got one look at his drill sergeant and knew where he was headed.

“I knew at that very moment that that’s what I wanted to be,” Command Sergeant Major McGhee said during his retirement ceremony at Rhine Ordnance Barracks May 14. The ceremony also marked relinquishment of responsibility for Command Sergeant Major McGhee, the senior enlisted adviser for the 357th Air Missile Defense Detachment.

Raised by his mother and grandparents in South-Central Los Angeles, Command Sergeant Major McGhee admitted to having few positive male role models when he was young.

“But the ones that were there for me built a strong foundation that contributed to setting the conditions for my success as a Soldier,” Command Sergeant Major McGhee said. “I learned early on the value of honesty, hard work, perseverance and sacrifice long before I ever set foot into basic combat training at Fort Bliss 27 years ago.”

While thanking many of the comrades and commanders with whom he has served over the years, Command Sergeant Major McGhee offered advice to Soldiers in the ranks for success.

“I’ve always been a firm believer in the philosophy that it’s not so much what we say as leaders that will resound so profoundly with the Soldiers, it is what we do,” he said, noting that “our audio must match our video.”

Col. Anthony English, 357th AMDD commander, offered one insight into his battle buddy.

“Really the one thing that people don’t understand is behind all the rough and gruff, he loves them. They’re his life,” Colonel English said. “Soldiers are his love. They have been for 27 years.”

Not a surprise about this family man.

“One of the most important things to me about being a Soldier is that you’re part of a family. And I come from a very very rough area, and I didn’t have that closeness until I joined the Army,” Command Sergeant Major McGhee said, adding that members of the relatively small air defense artillery branch watch each other grow and build careers as Soldiers.

 “That’s a camaraderie that I really don’t want to let go of, but I have to move over and let someone take it and make it their own,” he said.