I was promoted to sergeant with only 24 months in the Army. I was not old enough to legally drink a beer in my hometown and was in no way everything a sergeant should ‘‘be,” ‘‘know” and ‘‘do” on the day of my promotion. I was a good Soldier and did what I was told.

One of many special secrets I learned during this time in my career came from my 1st sergeant; then-1st Sgt. Gary P. Pastine. The peacetime Army during the Cold War had a requirement to conduct four hours of noncommissioned officer professional development training monthly.

Pastine personally conducted one hour of training for all NCOs assigned to the company each week. All of his lessons were lecture style, directive and very specific on the standards he expected in the performance of our duties.

Lessons included ‘‘How to Make a Leader’s Notebook,” ‘‘How to Build an Individual Fighting Position and How to Establish a Company Defense,” ‘‘How to Perform Monthly Counseling,” ‘‘Field Sanitation,” ‘‘How to Inspect a Soldier’s Room,” ‘‘How to Conduct Resupply Operations on the Move and in the Defense,” ‘‘How to Write a NCOER and an Award,” ‘‘How to Supervise and Clean a Common Area Latrine” and many more.

Pastine probably had four to six months of professional development lessons that were a mix of garrison and tactical tasks. He would systematically and sequentially work his way through week after week before starting over with the first lesson again.

Throughout his two-and-a-half years of mentoring, I probably heard all of his lessons two or three times between our deployment and training densities away from home station.

Every class he taught was a learning experience and I always seemed to take something new away from his discussions. All of his tactical lessons were taught in the weeks and months prior to a deployment or major training event.

His intent was to use the NCODP lessons as a ‘‘train the trainer” platform to get all of his NCOs executing critical tasks to the same standard. This ‘‘train the trainer” mentoring tied in nicely with individual and team\squad\crew collective tasks we taught to our Soldiers.

Although AR 350-1, Army Training and Leader Development, Section Two, Chapter 4-10 no longer requires four hours of NCO professional development each month, the NCO Development Program in a unit is a command responsibility.

The program will reflect command priorities and expectations for leader training and leader development and is usually managed by the command sergeant major and first sergeants of the unit. DA PAM 350-58 contains the suggested procedures and outline for establishing and managing a successful NCODP in your unit.

I learned as a sergeant sitting through those NCODP sessions with Pastine what a sergeant should ‘‘be,” ‘‘know” and ‘‘do” both in garrison and in the field.

I used this same methodology as a platoon sergeant, 1st sergeant and command sergeant major to teach all of my NCODP lessons. I also realized as a 1st Sgt. the importance of periodically teaching the same subject over again to reenergize and focus standards and expectations in the execution of an NCO’s duties and tasks.

Additionally, as you grow new NCOs within a unit or as new NCOs join your unit, revisiting subjects taught in the past, ‘‘levels the bubble” and standardizes knowledge and expectations throughout the unit.

The solution for many of the challenges leaders face in their units today is the simple sharing of knowledge and experience; teach your junior NCOs ‘‘what right looks like.” Sergeant take the lead!