SGT. LEON COOK/U.S. ARMY CENTRAL
Senior noncommissioned officers and officers from Egypt, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Uzbekistan exchanged perspectives in May 2015 at the first Multinational Noncommissioned Officer (NCO) Symposium in El Paso, Texas, at the home of the United States Army Sergeants Major Academy (USASMA).
Command Sgt. Maj. Ronnie Kelley, the command sergeant major for U.S. Army Central, led the symposium, which aimed to strengthen relationships and improve interoperability among partner nations. He said the goal of the symposium, hosted by the U.S., was to offer countries a chance to collaborate with each other and learn from each other’s experiences.
“I learned a lot from seeing how the NCO became so important in the U.S. Army,” said Sgt. Maj. Mohammed al-Smadi of Jordan.
Guests attended panels covering everything from the role of the NCO to the function of the NCO education system. Attendees also toured the NCO Heritage and Education Center in Fort Bliss, Texas.
“We need to learn to let our NCOs take charge of the things NCOs do” in the U.S. Armed Forces, said Brig. Gen. Ibrahim Harfouche, a senior official of the Lebanese equivalent of Training and Doctrine Command. “They’re very professional and very good at their jobs, and we need to let them do it.”
The USASMA tour was a return to familiar ground for Command Sgt. Maj. Temirbek Khalykov of Kazakhstan’s Armed Forces. Khalykov graduated from the academy in 2008 and attributes many of the improvements within Kazakhstan’s NCO Corps to lessons learned in the U.S. He also praised the opportunity the symposium gave to learn new ideas from other countries.
“The NCO Corps in Kazakhstan was developed about 20 years ago, so we have done good work to develop them so far in accordance with what we’ve learned from the U.S.,” Khalykov said. “We can take what we’ve learned here from what’s worked for other countries back home with us and energize our own forces.”
Kazakhstan’s NCOs showcased their skills during Steppe Eagle 15. This exercise focuses on multinational peacekeeping and peace support operations.
Many attending nations also shared insights on how the NCO corps works within their countries.
“I like to work with a lot of teams,” said Adib Mikhomalo, a sergeant major in the Lebanese Ranger Regiment. “You always find something you’re looking for in some other country. You have a problem, and you find a country that has already solved that problem. You get experience from everyone. For example, in my country, we deal a lot with mountains, and probably some countries don’t have mountains. So they ask us how we deal with mountains, and we ask them how to deal with deserts and flat areas.”