Respect In The Army

A Noncommissioned Officer’s duties are numerous and must be taken seriously. An NCO’s duty includes taking care of soldiers, which is your priority. Leaders must know and understand their soldiers well enough to train them as individuals and teams to operate proficiently. This will give them confidence in their ability to perform well under the difficult and demanding conditions of battle. Individual training is the principle duty and responsibility of NCOs. NCOs are responsible to fulfill not only their individual duties, but also to ensure their teams and units are successful.
NCOs are accountable for your personal conduct and that of your soldiers. Noncommissioned officers have three types of duties: specified duties, directed duties and implied duties: specified duties, direct duties and implied duties. Specified duties are related to jobs and positions. such as Army regulations, Department of the Army general orders, the Uniform Code of Military Justice, soldier’s manuals, Army Training and Evaluation Program Publications and MOS job descriptions specify the duties. Direct duties are not specified as part of a job position or MOS or other directive. A superior gives them orally or in writing.
Directed duties include being in charge of quarters or serving as sergeant of the guard, staff duty officer, company training NCO and NBC NCO. Implied duties often support specified duties, but in some cases they may not be related to the MOS job position. These duties may not be written but implied in the instructions. They’re duties that improve the quality of the job and help keep the unit functioning at an optimum level. In most cases, these duties depend on individual initiative. They improve the work environment and motivate soldiers to perform because they want to, not because they have to.

For example, while not specifically directed to do so, you hold in-ranks inspections daily to ensure your soldiers’ appearance and equipment are up to standards. As a Noncommissioned Officer and a leader you must ensure that your soldiers clearly understand their responsibilities as members of the team and as representative of the Army. Commanders set overall policies and standards, but all leaders must provide the guidance, resources, assistance and supervision necessary for soldiers to perform their duties. Mission accomplishment demands that officers and NCOs work together to advise, assist and learn from each other.
There are two categories a Noncommissioned Officer’s responsibilities fall under: command and individual responsibilities. Command responsibility refers to collective or organizational accountability and includes how well the unit performs their missions. For example, a company commander is responsible for all the tasks and missions assigned to the company; his superiors hold him accountable for completing them. Commanders give military leaders the responsibility for what their sections, units, or organizations do or fail to do.
NCOs are therefore responsible to fulfill not only their individual duties, but also to ensure that their team and unit are successful. The amount of responsibility delegated to you depends on your mission, the position you hold and your own willingness to accept responsibility. Individual responsibility means you are accountable for your personal conduct. Soldiers in the Army have their own responsibilities. Individual responsibility cannot be delegated; it belongs to the soldier that wrote the check. Soldiers are accountable for their actions, to their fellow soldiers, to their leaders, to their unit and to the United States Army.
As a leader you must ensure that your soldiers understand clearly their responsibilities as members of the team and as representatives of the Army. Historically, officers were prominent aristocrats or landowners who received a commission from the country’s ruler, giving them permission to raise and train military units. By contrast, the enlisted were “the common folk” the officers led into battle. This was once true even in the United States: Military units were raised for the Civil Was by wealthy and prominent community members, who would obtain a commission to recruit and train the people in their hometown.
Today, commissioned officers in the United States Military are no longer aristocracy, and the enlisted far from being peasants. However, officers are still the primary source of authority in any military unit, and the position maintains some of its aristocratic pedigree, as embodied in the age-old phrase, “officer and a gentleman. ” A commissioned officer’s duty is to lead. If the civilian equivalent of a private is an low level blue collar worker, and the sergeant that of middle manager, then commissioned officers are the upper management and executives.
Officers are expected to come out of training able to immediately take charge of about forty enlisted troops – a platoon. An officer’s career progresses by assuming larger commands and greater levels of responsibility; from a platoon to a company, a company to a battalion, and so on. Commissioned officers are expected to have a sharp mind and a well-rounded education, so with very few exceptions they must possess at least a bachelor’s degree to receive a commission.