Evolving Role of the Non-Commissioned Officer

The Noncommissioned Officer Corps NCOs has seen a significant shift in responsibility and empowerment over the last 200 years. Selection of early NCOs were not due to overall performance or potential as much as it was to their large physical size, their booming voice, and the ability to speak clear English. A professional system that evaluates the Soldier through performance and potential compared to their peers throughout the U.S. Army is the system used for selection of todays NCOs. The quality of current NCOs serving in the U.S. Army has significantly improved over the last 200 years and so have their responsibilities and their ever-increasing empowerment. The responsibilities and empowerment of the NCO will continue to increase and evolve due to the broad range of military operations in the years to come.Many factors have led to the ever-increasing responsibilities and empowerment of the NCO over time. Pay, benefits, civilian education, experience, formal professional development, advances in technology requiring decentralization of decision-making authority, and changes in tactics are some of the major factors of this discussion. These factors are just some of the reasons that the NCO Corps has assumed more responsibility and helped empower the NCO over the last 200 years.According to studies of military pay, civilian counterparts with the same level of civilian education receive a higher level of pay compared to our Soldiers. While this may be true from the study groups research in regards to base pay, what it does not take into consideration is the additional military benefits medicaldentaletc. or the reasons why our Soldiers now have a higher level of civilian education.