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Story and photos by, SFC Adam Phelps 94^th Army Air and Missile Defense Command Public Affairs

Fort Shafter, Hawaii—The 94^th Army Air and Missile Defense Command held a noncommissioned officers induction ceremony for soldiers at the Aliamanu Military Reservation chapel on January 18. 
The ranks of the soldiers ranged from Sgt. to Staff Sgt. that were inducted in a ceremony presided by Command Sgt. Maj. Tedd Pritchard and Brig. Gen. James Dickinson.   

“It benefits them due to getting put into the corps. It is an unwritten law that NCOs get inducted,” said Sgt. 1^st Class Michael Tran, the 94^th AAMDC training NCO, event coordinator and a native of Danville Va. “It used to be where you got hit on the shoulder. It has changed since then.  It benefits them because it is a right of passage.”
With focusing on back to the basics discipline, this ceremony helps provide the soldiers with an even greater sense of honor and pride in being an NCO.
“It is a great honor. I got my E5 only 6 years ago but this whole time I have been wanting to do something like this,” said Staff Sgt. George Torres health care Sgt. for the 94^th, an inductee and native from San Antonio.
Torres also stated that all NCO’s should go through a similar process that commissioned officers go through when they get promoted.
Planning an event like this took a lot of coordination and advice from soldiers that have done it before.
“I have never handled a big event like this before from start to finish. There were a lot of people that got involved to help me out,” said Tran.
The labor that was put in to making the ceremony was not in vain. The event went really smooth Tran said.
“The best part of the whole ceremony was at the very end. Four soldiers recited the soldier’s request. That was basically the best part,” said Tran.
For some of the NCOs this was the first time that they had family members attend a formal military event.
“It was nice to actually have a family member there at one of the military events,” said Torres. “Every other time I have been deployed and at training and never had a family member there. It was actually nice for a change.”The coordinator and inductees both agree that the ceremony is very important for the NCO and should be a regular event.
“It was a great process. It turned out really good,” said Torres. I hope we can manage to continue this and get more of the newly promoted NCO’s on board.”
“The mission of a sergeant is to train soldiers and build teams. Start building the team today,” said Command Sgt. Maj. Tedd Pritchard, 94^th AAMDC Command Sgt. Maj. We must not ever forget who we are, who we serve, who we represent, where we came from, and why we exist as the back bone of the Army!