BY EXAMPLE

Preparing whos next

As a platoon sergeant, Sgt. 1st Class Greggory Trenery helps ready those who will someday replace him
Sgt. 1st Class Greggory Trenery has returned to the Army three times. Originally joining in 1986, Trenery first returned during Operation Desert Shield. Most recently, he returned in 1998 to help provide for his four children. Currently a platoon sergeant in B Battery, 2nd Battalion, 11th Field Artillery Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, Trenery led his platoon during its 2011 deployment to Iraq. Why have you continued to serve as an NCO? It keeps me with Soldiers. One of the things I like about being an NCO is meeting new Soldiers and going through experiences with them and helping them in their choices and their careers and what they wanted to do whether they stayed in the Army and made it a career choice or whether the Army set them up for success as a civilian. What was a memorable time as a Soldier? My first time, I was stationed in Germany and back then, we were still in the Cold War. I was in Germany when the Berlin Wall came down. It was interesting to see Europe during that time, and then going back now, to see how Europe has changed. Its very open now, and we train with all of the services over there. As an NCO, what assignments have helped in your professional development? Being a recruiter taught me a lot of things. I learned how to operate autonomously because most of what you do is solo and on your own. You have to really be a self-starter. There are people who push you in the right direction, but its really up to you challenging yourself. When I was a recruiter, I never tried to sell the Army; I always thought the Army sold itself. I told people they could be as successful as they wanted to be in the Army; they just had to seize the opportunity. How do you lead Soldiers? As a platoon sergeant, Im just preparing tomorrows leaders today trying to get them to follow or realize some of the things that I was taught when I was coming up in the Army. What advice do you have for other NCOs? Plan to train and then conduct the training youve planned. Teach those Soldiers out there who are going to replace you. There are thousands of excuses to not

do something. We as NCOs have to find that one reason to do it and encourage and challenge those Soldiers to develop and improve themselves. What impact do NCOs make on Soldiers? As NCOs, were the trainers and evaluators of every training event. There are established standards out there, and if you were to go to watch a unit conduct an Army Physical Fitness Test, at that unit youd see numerous variations the way graders score an event. We as NCOs are the ones who allow for the bending or breaking of those rules or guidelines. Whatever the reason, we as NCOs are the people who need to enforce those standards. Every shortcoming we see is probably something that we created or allowed to happen. What advice do you have for other NCOs? NCOs need to seek out those things that take them out of their comfort zone, because thats whats really going to help them develop, thats whats going to challenge them, and thats really what we need to do and ask of ourselves. If you always stay within your comfort zone, youre never going to really develop.
INTERVIEW BY JENNIFER MATTSON

Sgt. 1st Class Greggory Trenery stands in front of the Virtual Army Experience truck when he served as a recruiter in San Antonio. PHOTO COURTESY OF SGT. 1ST
CLASS GREGGORY TRENERY

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