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U.S. Army Europe Command Sgt. Maj. David S. Davenport Sr. visited the Soldiers of the 7th Civil Support Command Dec. 7 and answered questions in both a town hall meeting with NCOs and a luncheon for junior enlisted Soldiers.
The Nashville, Tenn., native is the U.S. Army’s senior enlisted leader in Europe. He began the meeting at Daenner Kaserne by telling Army Reserve Soldiers that recent budget reductions for the Army will not stand in the way of leadership development and readiness, especially for the Army’s corps of NCOs.
Davenport informed the NCOs and Soldiers in attendance that both Structured Self-Development training and the Army’s Warrior Leader Course are becoming prerequisites for Soldiers to advance to the rank of sergeant and above.
“You’ve got to knock out your SSD before you can even think about promotion,” Davenport said.
Davenport also mentioned that additional leadership skill qualifications, such as master resiliency trainer and master fitness trainer, would become available to Soldiers by next spring at the U.S. Joint Multinational Training Center located at Grafenwöhr and Vilseck. Once his plan is implemented, a Soldier can be qualified as both a master resiliency and a master fitness trainer within a month.
“It’s a pretty good deal,” Davenport said. “These certifications could be delivered for just a couple of hundred dollars per Soldier.”
After a decade of demands placed on Soldiers to fight counter-insurgency wars, essential enlisted core competencies necessary to “take care of our Soldiers have been eroded,” Davenport said.
Davenport said the solution to this problem lies in how Soldiers’ careers are managed, and stronger focus will be placed on “assignment, education and broadening opportunities” over the next five years.
“We’re truly trying to get to talent management,” Davenport said.
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Editor’s note: Davenport actively uses social media to engage with Soldiers and their families. He can be followed on Twitter (@csmdavenport) and Facebook (Command Sergeant Major, U.S. Army Europe).
