The Joint Readiness Training Center is pleased to present the thirty-fifth episode to air on ‘The Crucible - The JRTC Experience.’ Hosted by the Command Sergeant Major of Ops Group (COG), CSM Michael Hall. Today’s guest is the Command Sergeant Major of 3-89th Cavalry Squadron, 3rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, CSM Andrew Baxter.

The 3rd Squadron, 89th Cavalry Regiment also draws its heritage from the 899th Tank Destroyer Battalion of infamy during the North African Campaign of World War II. In an interesting bit of trivia, the IBCT was for over a decade known as the 4th IBCT of 10th Mountain, but when the Army redesigned division for the “Army of 2020” concept, they became 3rd IBCT of 10th Mountain. (The “Spartan” Brigade was inactivated in August 2014.) They have the Hollywood call-sign of “Slugger” and the motto of “Ready Now,” while the IBCT has the call-sign “Patriots” and the motto of “Forged for War.”

In this episode we discuss the roll of the noncommissioned officer within a cavalry squadron as well as the Army as a whole. The NCOs are the commanders’ “linebackers” with the goal of maintaining good order and discipline of the formation. As leaders, we have to strive to shift our formations from the garrison mindset to a “combat” mindset focused on lethality and overall readiness. We have to re-hone the edge of the NCO corps to be much more focused on direct leadership instead of the more passive, non-confrontational approach while still being professional, especially for our junior NCOs. The value of the specialist within our formations cannot be overemphasized as they fill the gap between Soldier and the NCO corps having proven their merit by mastering their skill level one tasks.

Part of S04 “Scouts Out” series.

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“The Crucible – The JRTC Experience” is a product of the Joint Readiness Training Center.