So long, I.am.NCO
As a concept, I.am.NCO was underpinned by the premise that the U.S. Army Noncommissioned Corps deserves an external body to guard the profession, just as the Bar Association does for lawyers and the Medical Association does for doctors. I think many agree with the idea, as long as it serves primarily as the north star, without competing agendas. It served its purpose but could not gain the traction to move from idea, start-up, and operation to full operation due to a number of factors. The two biggest are the change in national priorities and the lack of funding.
As such, the time has come to sunset the I.am.NCO project and widen my aperture. Though I am of the same mindset as before, this project will have to wait until another time or until another group of champions and stakeholders picks up the mantle. I would be glad to participate in either. Meanwhile, as a professional, I must keep up with the changing times. My interests have always extended beyond a single subject, and this next chapter gives me the opportunity to return more fully to the work I have enjoyed most throughout my life: research, writing, and curating material that helps preserve the military record and make it useful to others.
For roughly 45 years, my professional and personal work has repeatedly returned to those same activities. As a Soldier and senior enlisted leader, I studied the Army’s institutions, traditions, and leadership systems. As an author, editor, researcher, educator, entrepreneur, and volunteer, I have written books and articles, contributed to official Army history, helped preserve NCO heritage, participated in applied Army research, built digital collections, supported leader development, and worked with historical and preservation organizations. The subjects and formats have changed over time, but the thread has remained remarkably consistent: find worthwhile questions, examine the evidence, document what can be known, and leave something useful behind.
Military Research Group is the new home for that work.
The Military Research Group (MRG) will continue my record of contributions to Army NCO history, research, and curation, as it remains a field to which I expect to contribute for the rest of my life. It will also provide room for research into Army leadership and institutional development, military education, local, statewide, and national history, local military history, preservation, archives, and cemeteries. Some of my current and future projects will become books. Others may become essays, research notes, source studies, field reports, or simply a better-documented historical record.
The word “Group” does not refer to a staff or an organization of researchers. It reflects the collection of subjects I choose to pursue and curate under one banner. Those interests will evolve, and that is intentional.
The future of MRG is less about building another organization and more about creating the freedom to follow important and interesting questions wherever they lead. I hope that means more time in archives, libraries, museums, cemeteries, historic sites, and on the ground where events actually occurred. It means more writing, more reading, more travel, more primary-source research, and more opportunities to share discoveries along the way.
If you followed I.am.NCO because of an interest in Army leadership, the NCO profession, military history, or simply thoughtful research and writing, I hope you will stay.
The subject matter will broaden, but the approach will remain familiar: follow the evidence, ask better questions, write clearly, and preserve what is worth remembering.
This is not the end of I.am.NCO is as much the next evolution of the work behind it. Welcome to the Military Research Group.
Your humble servant,