Walz — Comer Opens Congressional Investigation of Walz trips to China



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Walz joined at 18 as a private. Rose through the NCO (sergeant) ranks, each requiring extreme competence at increasingly demanding jobs with more people & responsibility at every rank.

When you reach “Master Sergeant” you are selected to serve as a First Sergeant (1SG) of a unit…if you’re good enough.

Then, those 1SGTs compete for selection to Sergeant Major.

Only the best Sergeant Majors are selected for Command Sergeant Major (CSM) billets. CSMs serve as the senior enlisted person in the unit and the advisor to Commanders at battalion and above.

Having served with dozens of CSMs as my unit & command “battle buddy” I will attest they were all awesome. They know what they’re doing. They uphold standards. They speak their minds to all ranks (private to generals). They’re not afraid of getting bad news because they know how to fix things when they go wrong. And they serve the command (their commander and their soldiers) with a selfless integrity and a complete dedication.

During social events and informal occasions, they’re usually a whole bunch of fun. And they always have great stories. But they’re always professional.

So, those are my thoughts on Command Sergeants Major. While I don’t know the details of
@GovTimWalz
career wearing the cloth of our country, just the fact that he volunteered to serve and wore the CSM rank tells me a lot about him.”
 
nycfan said:
. . . When you reach “Master Sergeant” you are selected to serve as a First Sergeant (1SG) of a unit…if you’re good enough. . . ..
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This sentence is inconsistent with my recollection of Army enlisted ranks.
 
UNCMSinLS said:
Actual results may vary, huh, OSC? ;)
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Yeah, 1st Sergeant (E-8) is sort.of an administrative/supervisory post, one step up from a platoon Sergeant (E-7). A master sergeant is a technical specialist, one step up from a Specialist 7 (E-7.) I knew a lot of 1st Sergeants and usually tried to avoid drawing their notice or attention. I can probably count on one hand the number of Army Master Sergeants I knew or met.

First Army Master Sergeant I ever met was when I was asked to drive my radio van to Frankfurt because a bunch of guys in suits (civilian tech reps) wanted to try to transmit FDC codes through the KW-7 encryption device in my van. It didn't work. The Master Sergeant called me over while all the civilian tech reps were puzzling over why their plan wasn't working. The Master Sergeant asked me if I knew what was wrong. I replied I did and said all my equipment ran at 20 milliamps and the FDC equipment ran at 60 milliamps and they were never going to "talk" to each other. He just laughed and said, "I told them that last week, but they didn't believe me." It never worked.
 
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05C40 said:
Yeah, 1st Sergeant (E-8) is sort.of an administrative/supervisory post, one step up from a platoon Sergeant (E-7). A master sergeant is a technical specialist, one step up from a Specialist 7 (E-7.) I knew a lot of 1st Sergeants and usually tried to avoid drawing their notice or attention. I can probably count on one hand the number of Army Master Sergeants I knew or met.

First Army Master Sergeant I ever met was when I was asked to drive my radio van to Frankfurt because a bunch of guys in suits (civilian tech reps) wanted to try to transmit FDC codes through the KW-7 encryption device in my van. It didn't work. The Master Sergeant called me over while all the civilian tech reps were puzzling over why their plan wasn't working. The Master Sergeant asked me if I knew what was wrong. I replied I did and said all my equipment ran at 20 millivolts and the FDC equipment ran at 60 millivolts and they were never going to "talk" to each other. He just laughed and said, "I told them that last week, but they didn't believe me." It never worked.
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I realize “active” is different from “reserve” (although I can’t define the difference) and both are different from the National Guard (and, I can’t define that difference).

Just what is a “Command Sergeant Major?” Does a “Command Sergeant Major” in the National Guard matter at all?
 
Zoo_View said:
I realize “active” is different from “reserve” (although I can’t define the difference) and both are different from the National Guard (and, I can’t define that difference).

Just what is a “Command Sergeant Major?” Does a “Command Sergeant Major” in the National Guard matter at all?
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Well first off, your question probably exceeds what I knew or understood even when I was in the Army. Command Sergeant Majors are less common than Sergeant Majors. But both of them are E-9, the highest enlisted rank. Typically, I think of CSM as being the top enlisted man at a division or post level. These are guys with a lot of time in the military, don't take any gruff from anyone, and have the complete and utter confidence of the general they serve with, not under, but with, to deal with enlisted issues. A Sergeant Major, without the Command part, is usually, IIRC, either the senior enlsited person at below the division level or the senior enlisted person with a fairly large techincal team. Again, the administrative verses technical distinction.

But regardless, a Command Sergeant Major, is typically a much rarer rank, from a much larger pool (enlisted) than is the rank of general from the pool of officers. CSM's I typically think of as one per division or one per post. Very experienced, very competent, and very respected. That Walz retired as a CSM is very, very impressive. In my opinion more impressive than retiring as a general.

ETA: The 1st Sergeant (E-8) of the unit I was in had a BA and MA in counseliing/psychology, multiple tours in Vietnam, and a lot of decorations but thought he had no shot at becoming a CSM (E-9). As such, he was trying to become a Warrant Officer in the personnel area.
 
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