You nailed the essence of NCO/junior officer relations in the transitioning H/J series army. As a young cav platoon leader in the mid-80s my junior NCOs were sharper than my platoon sergeant. He was a good guy - had the cleanest vehicles on post - but he was functionally illiterate and tactically deficient. My E5s and I just worked around him in a strange but effective manner. Those junior NCOs were platoon sergeants by the First Gulf War and were magnificent, sharper than anything but the most seasoned platoon leaders.

It all comes down to the quality of the incoming soldier and the experiences, mentoring, and responsibility they receive early in their careers. OIF and related operations would seem to provide tremendous opportunity for junior NCOs to exercise leadership and independence far beyond any garrison/NTC rotation reality that existed in the peacetime force. The danger of course is burning out these young warriors and losing them. Or losing them.

As for "Sergeant's Time," I'm just gonna let that old battle die...

Master Gunner? Training for Canadian Army Trophy we executed an abbreviated MG course taught by a mobile training team from Knox. I wondered then why this was not an automatic part of the armor/cav NCOES, a requirement for staff sergeant. The guys who had been to MG school acted like they some dark secret that only they could harness and control. I always just figured they liked being in the warm tower during winter gunnery rather than risk being on a track with a busted heater.