The NCO corps plays a unique and vital role in military operations, particularly in the Pacific region. As the backbone of the U.S. Army, NCOs lead, mentor, advise and counsel soldiers worldwide. Their role in advising and directing soldiers is crucial, promoting discipline and unity, and enhancing military readiness. NCO development, instruction and training that help these leaders fulfill their duties effectively are crucial to operational effectiveness. NCOs facilitate communication between commissioned officers and enlisted soldiers, a role that cannot be overstated, especially in the Pacific.

U.S. Army Pacific (USARPAC) is pivotal in maintaining stability and security across the Indo-Pacific. As competition and emerging threats challenge regional security, NCO development across allied and partner forces, an effective but underutilized tool, is a powerful way to achieve strategic objectives. USARPAC has taken a strong stance on maximizing NCO development initiatives supporting strategic goals.

Multiple Impacts

USARPAC’s commitment to developing partner and allied NCOs fosters human interoperability—the ability to understand, trust and operate seamlessly alongside one another. Simultaneously, NCO development enhances technical interoperability—the ability to integrate technology, communications and operational procedures across forces. These tactical-level engagements can have bilateral strategic impacts.

Through professional military education, combined and joint training exercises and leader exchanges, USARPAC ensures that allied and partner NCOs are tactically proficient and consider doctrine, leadership philosophy and warfighting culture. This can be in direct support of strategic objectives.

Consider this: A partner nation wants a particular capability, and the U.S. supports this through Foreign Military Sales. There are programs to assist this partner, but USARPAC can support institutional NCO reform to build a long-term and sustainable model that enhances the partner’s enduring capability.

Historically, NCO development was often inconsistent and scarce throughout the Pacific Theater. Building essential skills was prioritized over building leaders in early models, and countries used different approaches typically affected by cultural context. The troops’ varied educational backgrounds and language barriers were two main challenges that brought attention to the urgent need for a comprehensive plan.

Strengthening Readiness

The USARPAC Partner Enlisted Leader Professional Development Strategy was developed as a collaborative effort. This strategy outlines USARPAC’s approach to training regional enlisted leaders, with a focus on partnering and supporting theater army missions. This detailed and measurable strategy, supported by observable outcomes, aims to satisfy the needs of USARPAC’s partners’ and allies’ enlisted leaders by providing a clear path forward, which will instill confidence in its effectiveness.

By investing in NCO development, USARPAC ensures that partner forces are capable and self-sustaining, thereby reducing the burden on U.S. forces in future contingencies.

Engagements like the Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center and the Senior Enlisted Leader Forum help foster a shared understanding of regional threats, mission execution and leadership responsibilities, and increase human and technical interoperability. This enables the U.S. and partner forces to respond rapidly and cohesively to crises or support bilateral plans.

The U.S. Army can’t assume its way is the only way. Soldiers must be open to learning from partners and allies, and be willing to adjust U.S. training approaches to fit each nation’s requirements and cultural nuances.

Regional Focus

Allies and partners, particularly senior NCOs, must remain unwavering in their commitment to modernizing NCOs throughout the Indo-Pacific region. Commitment is not just essential; it is the cornerstone of this goal. The use of creative teaching methods using state-of-the-art resources and simulators is testament to the Army’s devotion to increased capabilities across the theater. This global cooperation strengthens alliances and paves the way for a more secure and prosperous future.

USARPAC can show its consistent commitment to enhancing its partners’ and allies’ tactical and leadership skills by providing resources and capabilities to ensure that NCOs are better prepared to meet contemporary challenges.

The end state of the Partner Enlisted Leader Professional Development Strategy is developing an enduring professional development partnership with USARPAC’s allies and partners, a goal achieved together as a team. This partnership, based on mutual respect, trust and a commitment to building strong professional military forces, also will include the development of professional NCOs in the region.

To achieve the objectives of the Partner Enlisted Leader Professional Development Strategy, USARPAC engages in a range of operations, activities and investments to support development of regional enlisted leaders. This initiative cannot be successful if conducted in a vacuum.

Regional NCO development can only be accomplished through joint and combined network collaboration. Like other operations, activities and investments, it will require deconfliction and synchronization. Failure to do so could lead to training fratricide or, worse, oversaturation for a potentially small-sized force, highlighting the need for careful planning and execution.

Differing Approaches

The influence of cultural traits in NCO development in many Pacific nations is significant. This intriguing distinction highlights how certain cultures prioritize collective achievement, while others emphasize individual accountability. For instance, the Philippines may prioritize community-building skills more than South Korea, which may value military discipline. Geographical differences play a crucial role in creating training programs, ensuring their applicability in local contexts. These cultural disparities underscore the importance of human interoperability and the challenges in achieving it.

The ADDIE (Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation and Evaluation) cycle, a five-phase method used to implement the Partner Enlisted Leader Professional Development Strategy, is a long-term, cyclical approach to enlisted leaders’ development. The USARPAC team plays a vital role in this process, and its involvement is crucial to the ongoing progress the cyclical structure of enlisted leader development guarantees. With its reliable and safe structure, the ADDIE cycle inspires USARPAC to keep improving at what we do as a team.

Execution of Strategy

There is a multipronged approach required to execute the USARPAC Partner Enlisted Leader Professional Development Strategy, and it takes place at the strategic, organizational and tactical levels. Starting at the top, the commander’s guidance is the driving factor for which operations are planned and executed. For USARAPC, this is organized in the Theater Army Strategy, which codifies the importance of positional advantage in the region and specifies the command’s priorities, aims and objectives.

At the organizational level, it starts with partnerships, both joint and combined. Regardless of the conflict or issue our forces could face, they will never face them alone. That means planning needs to take place where shared understanding is a priority, and processes are set in place that build interoperability.

Finally, at the tactical level, the rubber meets the road. When guidance and planning are transformed into execution at the squad, platoon and company levels, that is when the Partner Enlisted Leader Professional Development Strategy comes into account as a tool to provide bottom-up feedback to enhance future operations. 

Interoperability is key to success in today’s complex operating environment. As operations across the theater become more complex, soldiers not only maintain a responsibility to help enhance the effectiveness of our partners’ and allies’ NCO corps, but also take away their best practices in an effort to always be part of a learning organization.

The Partner Enlisted Leader Professional Development Strategy is deeply rooted in promoting a culture of lifelong learners. Whether institutional, operational or self-development, the NCO is expected to continuously seek knowledge and improvement. Working with allies and partners is no different as opportunities such as training during Operation Pathways, attending international conferences or executing senior leader engagements provide the opportunity to exchange best practices, build relationships and enhance operations. Through this steady drumbeat of partnership, the expected outcome is overall enhanced shared understanding, while also identifying gaps and how to plug them moving forward.

Safeguarding Stability

NCO development programs in the Pacific have profoundly impacted military effectiveness and regional stability. Their legacy is observed in improved operational capabilities and enhanced leadership and morale among troops. The collaborative spirit fostered through these initiatives prepares NCOs, not just for threats, but also for evolving threats, showcasing their adaptability.

Prioritizing NCO development not only will ensure a stable and secure Pacific region for generations, but it also paves the way for a more prosperous and peaceful future. Emphasizing these programs can secure a safer future for all nations in the Pacific and advance human and technical interoperability with the same strategic objectives, fostering a sense of progress and unity.

In an era of strategic competition, USARPAC’s focus on NCO development is more than a force multiplier—it is necessary. Strengthening the backbone of partner militaries ensures a more integrated, agile and resilient regional security architecture. This, in turn, allows the U.S. and its partners and allies to deter aggression effectively, ensuring a free and open Indo-Pacific.

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Command Sgt. Maj. Jason Schmidt serves as the senior enlisted adviser for U.S. Army Pacific, Fort Shafter, Hawaii. Previously, he was the 23rd commandant, and fifth enlisted commandant, of the NCO Leadership Center of Excellence and the Sergeants Major Academy, Fort Bliss, Texas.

Sgt. Maj. Andrew Porch is the chief public affairs NCO for U.S. Army Pacific.

Master Sgt. Jeremy Chambers is a desk officer for the Security Cooperation Division, U.S. Army Pacific.