In a ceremony yesterday one of my favorite people in the Army was named the top sergeant of the Army National Guard. Christopher Kepner is now the Command Sergeant Major of the entire Army National Guard.
He will move to Arlington, Va., and serve full time in his new job. You can read my interview of Kepner here. He is a strong leader and has strong opinions on leadership. The fist time I heard him speak it was at a leadership meeting for all the sergeants in the 28th Combat Aviation Brigade:
He led an NCO Development course for all the sergeants in the brigade. He began that course saying,
“You need to do only two things to be a leader in the United States Army.
First, keep the men safe as much as possible.
Second, make sure your soldiers maintain standards in every area.
And how will you know if you are doing these two things?
You will eat lunch by yourself for the rest of your career.”
