Written by Staff Sgt. Kimberly Lessmeister
101st Sustainment Brigade, 101st Airborne Division (AA) Public Affairs
Fort Campbell, KY – The command sergeants major for the Combined Arms Support Command, the quartermaster corps, the transportation corps, the ordnance corps, the Army Logistics University – Logistics Noncommissioned Officer Academy, and the Soldier Support Institute visited sustainment leaders here August 28th-29th, 2017.
The visit marked the first time a sustainment forum had been conducted by all the major elements of the sustainment community on Fort Campbell.
Command Sgt. Maj. Michael Perry, the senior enlisted adviser for the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) Sustainment Brigade, 101st Abn. Div., and his unit hosted the sustainment command sergeants major, to include Command Sgt. Maj. Nathaniel J. Bartee, Sr., the senior enlisted adviser for CASCOM.On the first day, Bartee and the sustainment command sergeants major held a noncommissioned officer professional development forum where they discussed the mission of their various commands and career fields and answered questions posed by audience members.
“They weren’t just asking off the top of the head questions,” Bartee said. “They were asking detailed questions in reference to their careers, in reference to the Army, [and] in reference to readiness.”
The next day started with an esprit de corps run followed by an NCO Induction Ceremony to recognize 115 recently promoted NCOs in the sustainment community on Fort Campbell.
The trip brought together the sustainment leaders on Fort Campbell and in the Army and provided a forum to discuss issues and lessons learned, Bartee said.
“Those kind of tips … we can take back to Fort Lee and give to our doctrine writers and give it to the commander and try to see how can we improve and make things better,” he said.
For Perry, the opportunity to have all of the command sergeants major in one location helped the Fort Campbell sustainment community as a whole hear some of the issues, challenges and concerns of the career fields, and understand their overall mission.
“At the end of the day, especially as sustainers, it’s all about the warfighter,” he said. “It’s all about supporting those Soldiers that are going to be on the ground.”