The following is an excerpt from volume 3 of On Military Science: A Guide to Understanding the Meaning of F.O.I. ____________ The Non-Commissioned Officer (NCO) Now this portion may offend some veterans of the Army (or other branches of service), but when I speak about the NCO, or noncommissioned officer, in order to give you the best example, I have to speak about the rank and file Corporals and Sergeants that are considered the “backbone” of the United States Marine Corps as there is no branch of service of the United States Armed Forces with a better example of what an NCO of the highest standards is with a richer history than the Marine NCO. But in any branch of service, the NCOs are the ones who MAKE IT HAPPEN AND GET THE JOB DONE! They are the trainers, the leaders, the Platoon Sergeants, the Drill Instructors, the counselors, the problem solvers, the hardest of the hardcore, roughest, meanest and fiercest fighters and warriors of the Marine Corps (and Army). They are the examples of the primary and secondary objectives of military leadership which is ‘mission accomplishment’ and ‘troop welfare’ because they lead by example and as supervisors they never ask, expect nor demand of those junior to them to do anything they would not do themselves. They are the vital link in the chain of command between the “private soldiers” or lower enlisted ranks and the officers. In the Marine Corps, when an officer wants something done, he tells a Sergeant or Corporal what he wants and the NCO makes it happen, and he doesn’t have to tell the NCO “how” to get it done because they are experienced at making things happen. They are highly respected both by juniors and seniors, and of course I could go on and on about the Marine NCOs traditions, customs, courtesies, etc. But, I will just take time to explain why they are referred to as “noncommissioned” officers. An officer’s commission (as I explain in Volumes 1 & 2) is bestowed on them by the representatives of Congress and is indefinite (unless they fail to advance in their officer development cycle or fail to adhere to ethics), whereas an enlisted personnel’s time in service is limited to their 2-6 year enlistment contract. After 2 or 3 years of enlisted service and depending on the nature of the time served along with their proficiency and conduct marks an enlisted person attains the pay-grade of E-4, which is the rank of Corporal (and I’m speaking specifically about the Marines as the Army has “Specialists”). At this point they become a non-commissioned officer and assume more leadership roles as squad leaders and trainers. The next rank up is Sergeant and after said rank they become Staff-NCOs (E-6 to E-9). Although the NCOs are junior to the officers in rank, they are the trainers of the officer candidates as they are the most experienced and the commissioned officers are well-advised to heed and seek counsel with their NCOs in the field, as experience (and those with it) is the best teacher. So why is the NCO not mentioned in the Supreme Wisdom Lessons by Master Fard Muhammad to His Servant the Honorable Elijah Muhammad in the Wilderness of North America? Because the terminology comes from the U.S. Military and NOT Master Fard Muhammad, as I stated earlier, hence it is mentioned in the General Orders that we adopted from the U.S. Marines. And yet and still there are those who say we don’t do like that so-called “Devil’s military.” So in the Nation of Islam, the closest we would have to what could be considered the equivalent of an NCO would be the squad leaders. I know some have tried to explain this as such in the inadequate “training manuals” that have been sold to the F.O.I. in the past but the problem is NCO (noncommissioned officer) refers to the military ranks of Corporal and Sergeant and “squad leader” is a position or billet, not a rank. I pray, by Allah’s (God) mercy, that I have been able to bring much clarity to any past confusion and misunderstanding of what a noncommissioned officer is and where the General Orders originated.
Posted on: Fri, 12 Sep 2014 19:47:38 +0000