{"id":961,"date":"2024-01-07T03:09:31","date_gmt":"2024-01-07T03:09:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/?p=961"},"modified":"2024-01-07T03:09:31","modified_gmt":"2024-01-07T03:09:31","slug":"leading-the-way-to-soldier-readiness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/?p=961","title":{"rendered":"Leading the Way to Soldier Readiness"},"content":{"rendered":"
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AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 As the senior ranking non-commissioned officer at U.S. Army Futures Command (AFC), Command Sgt. Maj. Brian A. Hester has dedicated his career to being people-focused and people-motivated.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople matter, and our Army has the best people,\u201d Hester asserted.<\/p>\n

Responsible for advising the AFC commanding general and other senior leaders on the activities, needs and support requirements of Soldiers and their families, Hester often applies his informed experiences and personal insights to his work for the command.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy responsibility is to take my experiences as a Soldier over the last 33 years and make sure we\u2019re looking through that lens as we\u2019re trying to modernize and transform the Army,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

His day-to-day tasks include assessing how to best solidify systems, processes, interactions and relationships inside and outside of the organization \u2013 efforts that benefit from his disposition as a \u201cpeople person.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hester is also an integral member of a broader AFC team that is continuously evaluating whether new equipment and approaches will \u201cmake Soldiers more lethal and more protected on the battlefield\u201d from \u201cboth a deterrence perspective and a combat operations perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOur responsibility is to transform the Army so that we have future war-winning readiness.\u201d Hester said.<\/p>\n

He highlighted how AFC activities help ensure that the Army has \u201cthe right equipment, the right training, the right organizations to be able to maintain that land force dominance\u201d and that new materiel and methods are \u201ceffective, safe, reliable, efficient and hardened against the threat.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI know that the Army of the future is going to continue to be the best Army in the world. It\u2019s going to continue to be able to take care of its people, be absolutely proficient at warfighting. It\u2019s going to be ready when the nation needs it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hester\u2019s skill in analyzing and influencing Soldier-centric planning efforts stems not only from his own career as a Soldier, but also from a deep appreciation for the value of teamwork and hard work.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople often talk about luck. I think that luck is the intersection of preparation and seizing opportunity,\u201d Hester said.<\/p>\n

When he decided to enlist in the Army in 1990, shortly after graduating high school, he began a journey that embodied that mantra.<\/p>\n

\u201cI grew up in a little town, Mt. Sterling, Illinois, on the Midwest side of the state, in the farm belt,\u201d Hester said.<\/p>\n

His community of 1,500 people offered limited opportunities beyond farming and construction, and he was eager to find a way to continue fueling his passion for teamwork, which he discovered while playing high school football, basketball and baseball.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to be able to continue to be part of a team, which is one of the things I learned as an athlete, and also do something that I thought was meaningful for me and my family and my country,\u201d Hester explained.<\/p>\n

He opted to join the infantry specifically because he was inspired by the unique opportunities it offered, like learning how to jump out of an airplane.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe infantry platoon is really like an athletic team, and if each person plays their position well, then the whole team is successful,\u201d Hester said.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Once in the Army, Hester enjoyed the camaraderie and taking on leadership roles. He remembers thinking to himself, \u201cwow, this is something I could do for 20 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just kept getting better,\u201d he said. \u201cIt kept being more meaningful to me, and it provided a good opportunity for my family.\u201d<\/p>\n

To date, Hester\u2019s Army career has taken him to domestic assignments in Hawaii, Louisiana, Maryland, North Carolina and Texas, as well as international posts in Afghanistan Iraq, Kosovo and South Korea.<\/p>\n

His service has additionally afforded him time and support to obtain a bachelor\u2019s degree in liberal arts and complete several military education courses, including Ranger School and the Joint Special Operations Forces Senior Enlisted Academy.<\/p>\n

More than three decades later, Hester still enjoys \u201cbeing around Soldiers, having something really meaningful to do each and every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat has given me a lot of personal purpose and personal satisfaction,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The chance to solve complex problems and inspire others is also a great motivator.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think that there\u2019s anything better than the opportunity to figure out how to inspire other people around you to get after a common challenge, a common goal, and I think that\u2019s one of the things the Army does best.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hester\u2019s service has enabled his wife of 28 years and their two sons to live in locations around the country, making multiple friendships, encountering new experiences and building resilience along the way.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor my family, it\u2019s been a good thing,\u201d Hester said of Army life.<\/p>\n

His son decided to pursue military service as well, joining the generations of his family \u2013 including Hester\u2019s father, grandfather and great-grandfather \u2013 who served before him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am super proud of my family heritage, and super proud of my son for serving also,\u201d Hester said.<\/p>\n

Hester encourages individuals who may just be starting out in their careers to consider \u201cserving something larger than yourself \u2013 as a service member or as a teacher or as a doctor or as a youth coach or a pastor \u2013 or finding a way to give back to your community in a meaningful way.\u201d<\/p>\n

He sees the Army as an ideal path for many, given the multitude of opportunities, career pathways and experiences it offers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s a great way to start as a young person; even if you\u2019re 30 years old, I consider that to be a young person,\u201d Hester said. \u201cI think that there\u2019s also those folks out there that are looking for a change in their life; the Army\u2019s a great place to make a change, to find something new.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you come into the Army with the thought that \u2018I\u2019m going to make this opportunity for me the best that I can make it,\u2019 I am 100% sure that your time serving in the Army will be meaningful to you and your family.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you don\u2019t know if the Army is the right place for you, you should talk to a recruiter,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d almost guarantee you that there\u2019s going to be a fantastic opportunity, should you choose to join the Army and be part of our team.\u201d<\/p>\n

By Maureena Thompson, Army Futures Command<\/em><\/p>\n

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AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 As the senior ranking non-commissioned officer at U.S. Army Futures Command (AFC), Command Sgt. Maj. Brian A. Hester has dedicated his career to being people-focused and people-motivated. \u201cPeople matter, and our Army has the best people,\u201d Hester asserted. Responsible for advising the AFC commanding general and other senior leaders on the activities, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":962,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-961","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-army"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/961","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=961"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/961\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":963,"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/961\/revisions\/963"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/962"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}