Military Review English Edition September-October 2014 | Page 34

Photo courtesy of Sgt. Maj. Amanda Smith, U.S. Army

change in command philosophy. Therefore, change
would need to be enforced through Jordanian directives and encouraged through active examples.
The United States role would be to foster Jordaniangenerated initiatives aimed at empowering NCOs;
and, to provide concrete support to Jordanian leaders
pursuing such initiatives.
Focused efforts. Efforts to train NCOs and officers would need to be conducted jointly and focused
on one unit at time. This would help maximize the
effects and minimize the stress.
NCOs as trainers. Qualified Jordanian NCOs
would need to be assigned to JAF military schools,
with a focus on the officer academy. This would accustom officers at the very outset of their careers to the
presence and capabilities of NCO leaders.
Fortunately, the willing and visionary partner al
Zaben took the lead in promoting such changes from
the top down. Taking the initiative, al Zaben led by
example, as he assigned the first Jordanian sergeant
major of the army to act as the army’s senior enlisted member—Mohammad Ismail Mohammad
al Samadi.4 Second, al Zaben issued directives to
subordinates outlining his vision for the future JAF
NCO corps. Finally, he initiated a campaign for
empowering NCOs through training, lectures, and
command example.

Implementation by the Jordanian
Armed Forces

In execution of these initiatives, one assumption
was that success would be its own best marketer.
Therefore, a key decision was made by JAF officials
and U.S. advisors to focus on first achieving and
demonstrating success with a small group before attempting to expand the concept of empowered NCOs
to the entire JAF.
Consequently, al Zaben and the U.S. senior defense
official in Jordan agreed that only one Jordanian unit
at a time would be selected to send its NCOs to the
new NCO course for training, followed by closely
monitored employment that emphasized officers
empowering these newly trained NCOs within their
assigned units. The thought process behind this
decision was to move forward slowly, cautiously, and
thoroughly to maximize the effects of the new concept in the JAF.
Such focus was necessary because, had the new
course been offered to the Jordanian army as a whole,
the effects likely would have been diluted. Having a
few trained NCOs in a unit that had not made a cultural shift in officer attitudes regarding employment
of NCOs would have had little effect on the unit as a
whole; no real change would have taken place. In fact,
such a situation probably would have been detrimental to efforts aimed at promoting
NCO empowerment.
However, by focusing efforts
on one unit and training most of
its NCOs and officers together,
the pace of change could be closely
observed, managed, measured for
results, adjusted, and then publicized as an example for other units
to emulate.
Subsequently, the plan called
for 30 NCOs from one brigade to
attend the newly formed course.
Simultaneously, the officers in the
brigade would receive the directives and guidance from al-Zaben
as to his intent for the future of the
NCO corps. Furthermore, classes
and lectures were organized by
Jordanian NCO Basic Course cadets improve map reading skills, March 2013.
senior Jordanian and U.S. officers,
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September-October 2014  MILITARY REVIEW