PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

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PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This is a book of quotations by and about noncommissioned officers, and spans centuries of the Army’s experience in peace and war. It includes all members of the Total Army: the Active Army, the Reserve Components (Reserves and National Guard), the Army Family, the Civilian Corps, Veterans, and the Retired Corps, and has three purposes:

1. To share some of the knowledge and practical experience of members of the Army’s Noncommissioned Officer Corps. NCO knowledge and experience is invaluable, for the challenges of military service can only be met through leadership, training, and teamwork, and NCOs provide more than three-quarters of the Army’s leadership.

2. To recognize the contributions of the Noncommissioned Officer Corps to the Army and the Nation, for as Tom Clancy wrote, noncommissioned officers are "the guys who make the Army work."

3. To encourage more writing by and about the Army’s Noncommissioned Officer Corps. NCO wisdom is both practical and profound, and forms a body of knowledge essential to the accomplishment of the Army’s mission.

Grateful acknowledgment is made for the support provided by the staff of the Pentagon Library, Center of Military History, U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy Historical Office, U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy Learning Resources Center, U.S. Army Museum of the Noncommissioned Officer, and the Office of the Chief, Public Affairs (Command Information), in particular Debbie Reed, Dr. Robert Wright, Linda Gaunt, Marijean Murray, L. R. Arms, Bill Morris, and especially Dr. Robert Bouilly. I am very grateful to the following individuals for their help in special areas: Susan Borcherding, Gerhard Borcherding, Dr. Gregory Dennis, COL Randall Inouye, John E. Morris, and especially Dr. Ernest Fisher, author of Guardians of the Republic: A History of the Noncommissioned Officer Corps of the U.S. Army. I would particularly like to thank the following individuals for sustained support and help: Michelle A. Davis, LTC Dean Mattson, Michael Selves, CSM Jimmie Spencer, Dr. Andrea M. Williams, Kenneth B. Williams, Dr. Margaret Scheffelin, and Clifford Yamamoto.

A special thanks to the Sergeants Major of the Army, and to the Noncommissioned Officer Corps, past present, and future.

The Editor

Reproduction in whole or part is granted for any purpose of the US Government.