By Command Sergeant Major Mark Ripka
and
General William Ward Commander, U.S. Africa Command

Uganda Noncommissioned Officers Academy  Print     Share  

JINJA, Uganda - Command Sergeant Major Mark Ripka, the senior enlisted advisor for U.S. Africa Command, speaks to students and instructors at the Uganda Peoples Defence Force Noncommissioned Officer (NCO) Academy in Jinja on April 11, 2008. Ripka stressed the difference between training and education. Training, he said, tells new troops what to think, but education tells military professionals how to think. (Photo by Vince Crawley, U.S. Africa Command)

JINJA, Uganda, 

Apr 11, 2008 — Training tells military people what to think, but as they mature in their careers, military education tells them how to think, U.S. Africa Command's senior enlisted advisor told students during a visit April 11, 2008, to Uganda's recently created Noncommissioned Officers Academy.

Command Sergeant Major Mark Ripka accompanied General William Ward, AFRICOM commander, on an April 9-11 visit to Uganda. Their itinerary included addressing the Uganda Peoples Defence Force NCO Academy at Gadafi Barracks in Jinja, near the shore of Lake Victoria.

"We have something in common," Ripka told NCO Academy students. "You and I wear the cloth of our nation. This is the cloth that represents our nation. And that's a special bond between soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines."

Professional education helps to strengthen leaders, Ripka said. "Because if we grow professional leaders, not only do you represent you defense force, but you represent your nation and you represent all of Africa."

In the U.S. military, experienced NCOs traditionally help to mentor younger commissioned officers to make them more capable leaders, Ripka explained.

Ripka said the U.S. military appreciates opportunities to train with African nations. "What's more important, I think, is what you teach us," Ripka added. "Because you teach us an awful lot. You teach us about life. You teach us about respect for all people."

By working together over sustained periods of time, "we're teammates with you, we're partnering with you," Ripka said. "To me, that's a lasting relationship. Because one day it may come that I have to put my life in your hands. And I trust you, and I have confidence in you that when and if that day ever comes, that we will partner and we will be together. Because that what we who wear the cloth of our nation are all about."

Ward also spoke to the students and applauded Ugandan military leaders for establishing an NCO Academy to provide professional education for enlisted professionals.

"I wish you all the best to you and your families as we together work to help bring stability and peace to this part of Africa, this region," Ward said, "and by doing that, causing and hoping to cause development to occur and stability to occur."

Ward also thanked Ugandans for contributing peacekeepers to the African Union Mission to Somalia. The U.S. military has assisted in training and providing logistics for peacekeeper deployments in Somalia. "We are able to come forward and provide some assistance with that," Ward said. "That's what partnership is about."

Following is a transcript of Ripka and Ward's remarks:

Remarks of
Command Sergeant Major Mark Ripka
and
General William Ward, Commander, U.S. Africa Command

at the Uganda Noncommissioned Officers Academy
Gadafi Barracks
Jinja, Uganda

Friday, April 11, 2008


COMMAND SERGEANT MAJOR MARK RIPKA: Well, it's an honor. It's an honor to be here in this camp, which is a very historic camp for the Ugandan People's Defence Force. Not only is it a historic camp, but you are now training in this historic camp and you are a part of the first centralized, noncommissioned officers academy, both a junior course and a senior course for the Uganda People's Defence Force. And, for that, you are paving the way for others to come behind you. And I think you deserve a round of applause so thank you very much.

(Applause.)

Of course, all of this would not be possible without the leadership, our officer leadership and our noncommissioned officer leadership, to make this force what it is and what it's going to be in the future for those that come after me. So we thank the instructors because what we're doing is we're growing this Ugandan People's Defence Force for the future. And these are the future leaders, noncommissioned officer leaders, of our future in the defense forces. So what a proud day, what a proud day! Thanks for allowing General Ward and me to be a part of your team today. And that's what we want to be. We want to be partners. And we want to be teammates. And so thanks so much.

(Applause.)

And it's very, very special because this morning General Ward addressed the Senior Command and Staff College. And, yet, he comes out here today because General Ward understands the importance of the roles, responsibilities, duties, and authorities that noncommissioned officers bring to a professional defense forces. And that's important.

Last week, just last week, I met with a defense -- your defense force sergeant major, who is going to the United States Army Sergeants Major Academy in the United States. I mean, this is a UPDF sergeant major attending a course that's going to bring back even more insight to how we train and educate our noncommissioned officers. So this is real -- this is exciting. This is exciting.

Even our own force today in the United States continues to change. And we have had marked improvements in the training and education of our own noncommissioned officer corps in the United States today. And it takes a long time. We have to be patient as we do this. So thanks. And I also want to say a special thanks to the NCO academy commandant, Lieutenant Colonel Kaganda for leading this type of institution. Thank you very much, sir, what a pleasure.

(Applause.)

Let me share a couple of -- let me share just some thoughts with you about noncommissioned officers. I guess you would say that when a sergeant major stands up, his job is really to share some thoughts and to share some perspectives, if you will. So let me give you some of Ripka's perspectives, if you will, on noncommissioned officer leadership.

First, let me say that I'm proud of you, I'm proud of your accomplishments, I'm proud of your service to the country. We have something in common. You and I wear the cloth of our nation. This is the cloth that represents our nation. And that's a special bond between soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines. Now, in our current, as we represent United States Africa Command, the newest unified command from the United States, we have a big team and I will let General Ward, when he talks, to talk about a little bit of noncommissioned officers, but give you a perspective on the big picture of United States Africa Command as well. So I'll stay with the perspective parts here.

I would tell you that you're not here by accident. You are not here by accident going through this first academy force. You were personally selected and picked because of who you are and what you do. And that's very important. We can give you and the forces can give you all of the training and education that we can, but we can't change what's here in the heart because it's what in the heart that makes a leader a leader. And so when we talk about building professional leaders, when we talk about building professional leaders -- and a sergeant major has always got to have a chalkboard because he's a teacher -- and so we're going to use the chalkboard for a little instruction this afternoon. Okay, so please allow me to use the chalkboard.

And so what we do is we talk about professional leaders. That's you, okay? And I've got -- I'm not a mathematician, but I do like kind of formulas because I like to picture things in kind of formula-perspective, if you will. And so, as we look at how we grow professional leaders, okay, there's really probably -- probably you've got to hit what we call three pillars of professional leadership in how you grow our leaders. And, interestingly enough, the same way we grow our commissioned-officer leaders is the same way we grow our noncommissioned-officer leaders.

First of all, you have to send them to what we call the institution, or what is really training plus education. Okay, now, that's very interesting because if we were to draw the picture and make a picture out of this, what we would be is something a little bit like this. And this is the beginning of your career right here. Okay, this is the beginning of your career. And we'll take this block and we'll call this the training block and we'll call this the education block.

And at the very beginning, when you come into the defense force, what we have to do is we have to make sure that you are trained in your competency, whatever that may be in your defense force, whether you're an infantry man, an artillery man, supply, whatever it is. So we spend a vast amount of time training you and very little time educating you. But as you progress through your career in a leadership and you begin to assume leadership responsibilities, you will see more and more of that is education.

So we've got to blend this thing of military training versus military education because training tells us what, what to think or how to think, right? Training says what to think, but education tells us how to think, how to approach things differently, a little broader perspective. So the institution is very, very important. You're sitting in the institution today. This is a very important part of becoming a professional leader in the defense forces.

The second thing -- and I'll put that little plus sign up there -- are what we call operational assignments. And we'll just call it experience. And so that's -- now what you do is you take what you learn in this academy and you can't leave it here. What you've got to do is take what you learn in the academy and go apply it out in the defense force. And you gain leadership. You can't learn everything about leadership sitting in the academy; you have to experience leadership.

And, oh, by the way, you're going to make mistakes. We all make mistakes. And so what we have to when we make mistakes as NCOs, first of all, you've got to kind of say, hey, look, it's okay. All right, let's take a look at it. Let's have an after-action kind of talk. Let's talk about what happened, why did it happen, and how we are going to do it better the next time. That's what leaders do. That's what good, professional leaders do. And you gain experience through that. You probably gain very little experience if you do everything right, okay, or if somebody is telling you you're doing everything right. Do you see what I mean? Okay, so this is a great point.

The third part of this is how we build this professional leader is through self-study, books, it's reading books because this institution, the noncommissioned officer academy, to be the center of excellence that we want the center of excellence to be, okay, yes, you'll come here; yes, you'll go back out to your defense force and you'll be a noncommissioned officer leader out there. But the education can't stop. You need to continue to seek books and other leadership books in order to grow as a professional leader.

So what you're doing is you're sitting in one part of this, of how to be a professional leader. And so what do we do? What really do noncommissioned officers do? Well, first of all, we train, we are the primary trainers. We primarily train our soldiers and our sailors, airmen, and marines. And we, in some cases, from a U.S. perspective, we help train and mentor our officers as well. Because if you take a look at some of this, if you take a look at some of the experiences as we look at this, if you look a look at the experiences of our noncommissioned officers and when a young, brand-new platoon leader, platoon commander, everybody knows that, right? Everybody knows platoon leader, platoon commander. When a brand-new platoon leader, platoon commander comes in, he's got less than one year. But a platoon sergeant has many years. We'll say a platoon sergeant has eight to 10 years of experience: training, education, experience.

So it's very important that this experienced noncommissioned officer, a senior noncommissioned officer, coaches, teaches, and trains our officers as well as our young soldiers and our junior noncommissioned officers. Does that make sense?

(Chorus of "yes, sir.")

Yeah. Now, that happens to kind of cross a line later on. In fact, a company commander, okay, a company commander normally has anywhere between eight or six to eight years in, sometimes less, sometimes more. But a first sergeant in the company, a company first-sergeant, he may be a company warrant officer in the defense force, but a company first-sergeant normally has anywhere from 12 to 14 years in. And so the company first-sergeant is still coaching and teaching and mentoring company commanders to even make them better leaders and, of course, responsible for training the enlisted soldiers as well as the noncommissioned officers.

And this line kind of crosses. Here's the officer line and kind of here's the NCO line. And pretty soon it crosses. And pretty soon, like General Ward, I mean, Sergeant Major Ripka is not going to coach, teach, and mentor General Ward, okay? He's got all kinds of time and he's met every bit of these things here. But, at the same time, General Ward looks to Command Sergeant Major Ripka for certain things as we look at my role and responsibilities and duties and authorities at United States Africa Command.

And so he helps me and I help him, and he provides a perspective that I just can't get from anywhere else. Now, especially on our time, we've even got many of our governmental interagency wonderful people with us. We have DOD [Department of Defense] civilians. So we get a broad perspective at United States Africa Command.

So this is what it's all about and this is what you're after. You're after professional leadership because if we grow professional leaders, not only do you represent your defense force, but you represent your nation and you represent all of Africa. And so it's important to understand all the pieces of this puzzle that's going to take place throughout your career. And so I look forward to that.

And I would tell you that, to be quite frank, we -- where we can -- through our wonderful ambassador and the embassy, we are trying to bring some additional kind of resources for you so that we can be a part, and team, and partner with the NCO academy. And we look forward to it -- (applause).

And, you know, what's interesting is anytime that we're -- especially me -- when I'm around you, or our military-to-military training where, if we do bring an instructor here, what's more important, I think, is what you teach us, because you teach us an awful lot. You teach us about life. You teach us about respect for all people. And so that relationship that we build with you when we're with you, we're among you, we're teammates with you, we're partnering with you, to me, that's a lasting relationship. Because one day it may come that I have to put my life in your hands. And I trust you and I have confidence in you that when and if that day ever comes, that we will partner and we will be together. Because that's what we that wear the cloth of our nation are all about.

And so it's a trust; it's a confidence; it's a reliability factor where we rely on each other to help us help each other. And so, thanks. Thanks for what you do. Thanks for your professionalism. Thanks for paving this path. And as this course continues and as you continue to write I would think some type of summary of the course, you will help the instructors, you will help the leadership of the course to even create a better course for tomorrow. And that's what we're all about, is creating a better institutional experience where those that come after us get better training and better education. You're the first. What an honor and a privilege it is to be the first.

And so, thanks. Thanks for allowing me to come in and spend a couple of minutes with a perspective for you, talking about what professional leadership is all about. And I'll tell you, I'm thrilled to death. I am just thrilled that General Ward, I'm excited that General Ward wants to come and spend some time kind of talking to the noncommissioned officers of the Uganda People's Defence Force. To me, this is it. You've got the big guy. Okay, you've got the big guy, all right? (Laughter.) And so let me sit down and let's bring General Ward up and have him share some perspectives as well.

(Applause.)

GENERAL WILLIAM WARD: Stand up, everybody. There you go, there you go. Shake it out a little bit. There you go. Feel better now?

(Chorus of "yeah.")

Okay, go ahead and sit back down.

First, you all over here on this side, I'm here because what you're doing to cause your teammates to be as good as they can be is important. That's why you're here. And I'm here to reinforce that I think what you're doing is real important, too. So keep it up and do it well because it matters more than you ever know. Got it?

(Chorus of "yes, sir.")

I got it, too.

(Applause.)

No, no, but seriously, I know that you're doing it because you too know that it's the right thing, it's the best thing for your army, for your forces, and I agree with it. I agree with it. (Inaudible.)

Now, how are we doing?

(Chorus of "fine.")

Doing okay?

(Chorus of "yes, sir.")

Really?

(Chorus of "yes, sir.")

Okay, now, are you really doing okay?

(Chorus of "yes, sir.")

All right. I won't repeat what the command sergeant major said because everything he said I agree with. But I'm going to add two messages for you. The first message talks about why I'm here in this role as the commander of this U.S. Africa Command, the fact that it has been created to recognize this partnership that we have with the nations of Africa who want to partner with us, that we have with the institutions and organizations of the continent that are concerned about stability and security across the continent. Africa Command is here to call what we do as a Department of Defense, the United States of America, in helping our partnered nations to be more capable in providing for your own security. And, now, through a single command, U.S. Africa Command, the work of the Department of Defense in providing that assistance is consolidated.

So what we have done is reorganized ourselves, just like you are reorganizing your instruction. You developed this fine NCO-academy program. We are reorganizing ourselves in the Department of Defense so that when we work with African nations from the north, south, east, west and here in the central, or in the central part of the continent, as opposed to having three different commands that are doing that all over the place, one command that everyone knows they can come to if there are things that we can do to help you have more capacity in providing for your own security.

And some of that's been done. I mean, I don't know, some of you may have been -- anyone here recently came back from Somalia in the last iteration? No, well, you have some of your teammates in Somalia today. Some have been there last year. As we did the things that we did through the offices of the ambassador, the defense team that's here working with the Department of State to help provide you the wherewithal, the capacity, the added capacity to go forward and do those missions, the logistical support, equipment. It's that type of thing that we hope to be able to do where you have signed up and said, Hey, we as Africans want to take care of our own situation. But, in some cases and from time to time, we need some assistance. We need a little bit of help from time to time.

So we want to be here to provide for that assistance when we can and where the policy of our nation says we want to support that. That's the first thing.

The second thing has to do with you being right here. And that's the point that the sergeant major has so helpfully talked to as it pertains to your professional development because as you become better at what you do, you are also providing in a better way for the welfare of your entire command. And whose responsibility is that? Well, it's all of our responsibilities: officers, noncommissioned officers taking care of the men and women of our forces and then growing them to be the next and best generation of leadership that we can make them.

And in order to do that, all of require our own professional development. So I applaud you; I applaud the government of Uganda. I applaud the decision that was made to create and stand up this academy, this academy for noncommissioned officers that is designed to help cause a very important segment of the team to be as professional as it can be as it works side-by-side with other parts of the team: the officers and its soldiers. So congratulations, good luck to you, and I wish you all the best to you and your families as we together work to help bring stability and peace to this part of Africa, this region, and by doing that causing and hoping to cause development to occur and stability to occur that add to global security and stability.

And so when we provide things like lift support, equipment, individual equipment, uniforms, logistics -- I was here last year and barbed wire for force protection was being loaded on a train. You were loading your tanks on trains for your deployment to Somalia. You needed some help in getting there. You needed some canteens so that you could have water to drink. And we were able to come forward and provide some assistance with that. That's what this partnership is about. As you go forward and do things to help bring stability to this part of the continent of Africa, a very important part here and the east of Africa, you and your partner nations all around you, working with them.

So good luck to you, all the best to you. You're doing a great job. Keep doing it. Are they doing a good job?

(Chorus of "yes, sir.")

(Chuckles.) Are they really doing a good job?

(Chorus of "yes, sir.")

Okay, okay, you guys are doing a great job. Commandant --

VOICE: Let's give him a huah!

(Chorus of "huah!")

That's what I'm talking about.

GEN. WARD: Commandant, your students just gave you the best vote of approval. So when they say you're doing a good job, that works for me. I take their word, okay? All right, very good, very good. Congratulations and all the best to you. Keep up the good work. Keep it up, keep it up. We're in this for the long haul together: Sustained effort, persistence, and that's going to make a difference for your children and your children's children. Glad to serve with you, thank you very much.

(END)


Transcript by
Federal News Service
Washington, D.C.
Released by U.S. Africa Command