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Soldiers • May 2009 3 Letters from the field Mailcall To comment, keep your remarks to under 150 words, include your name, rank and address, and send them to: Defense Media Activity-Army, Attn: Editor, Soldiers Magazine, Box 31, 2511 Jefferson Davis Hwy., Arlington, VA 22202-3900 or email: assignmentdesk@smc.army.mil Soldiers Values Your Opinion Year of NCO ad should reflect high standards I recently looked at a copy of the Febru- ary issue of Soldiers magazine and found something quite disturbing. On page 29 there is a picture of an NCO who looks to be deployed. On that page it shows him in full battle rattle (kind of ). It also shows a headline of Year of the NCO. Here’s the problem I have: As noncom- missioned officers, we are dedicated to setting the example. In this picture we are not. This particular NCO has his sleeves rolled up, no eye protection, a civilian-type radio (which could set off IEDs), his chinstrap is jacked-up and his vest is jacked-up. Now I’m not one to nit pick at things but when the Army is campaigning the Year of the NCO and we are putting pictures that are not squared away in a magazine widely read by younger Soldiers, what kind of example are we setting? I didn’t write this to make that NCO look bad or just gripe about things or even say you guys are doing a bad job. I wrote it to bring it to someone’s attention that maybe we need to look in the mirror and set the example rather than just go through the motions. Sgt. Jeffrey Dilcher Echo “Eagles” 2-22 Inf. Forward Support Co. 10th Brigade Support Bn. Fort Drum, N.Y. Editor’s note: We have received several letters pointing out issues with the image used in the Year of the NCO ad in the February issue of Soldiers magazine. This letter was written in response. Sgt. Dilcher, Thank you for your thoughtful email regarding the Year of the NCO advertisement in the February issue of Soldiers magazine. All your points are valid, and we thank you for bringing them to our at- tention. In our effort to highlight the fine work the Army’s NCOs are doing downrange, we inadvertently overlooked the details you pointed out. The photos we use in the magazine have been released, and thus approved for publication. It is our responsibility to ensure images with the problems you wrote about do not make it into the magazine. In this case, as the editor, I failed to notice the issues. For that, I take full responsibility and sincerely apologize. I do not know the NCO featured in the image. I do hope, however, that his fellow NCOs would use our mistake as a leadership opportu- nity and a teaching tool, rather than an opportunity to publicly berate the subject of the photo. It is due to the efforts of Soldiers like you, that we are able to improve the content of the Army’s flagship magazine. We value your input regarding the magazine’s content, as well as your knowledge about the Army. It is our duty to make sure we represent the Army and the Soldiers that fill its ranks in line with the high standards that have been established and upheld. The image was selected because we believed it told the great story of the many missions today’s Soldiers are asked to perform. They com- plete their missions successfully each and every day, and they have our support and our gratitude. Thank you for your service, your comments, and your interest in Soldiers magazine. Photo contest submissions On behalf of the entire Soldiers mag- azine staff, I want to thank the hundreds of Soldiers, retirees and family members who submitted photos as part of the “Of Soldiers, by Soldiers” photo contest. This month’s cover features a photo (with background illustration) of an honor guard Soldier. The photo was taken by Staff Sgt. Cody J. Earl of Joint Forces Headquarters—Idaho, Idaho Army National Guard. He is the noncommissioned officer in charge of visual information, as well as a photographer. We selected the image based on its quality and relevance. We are planning to run photo pages in future months of the maga- zine, and intend to use some of the submissions we received in those layouts. I will do my best to notify individuals, should we decide to run their photos. Thank you again to each and every individual who submitted. We sincerely appreciate your efforts in this endeavor, and more importantly, your service and sacrifices. Sincerely, Carrie McLeroy Editor, Soldiers magazine Amazing response to story Thanks to you and your team and the generous publishing of the Lara Phillips story in the March issue, Lara is getting a steady stream of email and notes to her Web site: caringbridge.org. Her mom is just bowled over by the military support coming from your publication and states that Lara is in “awe” of the response. If you ever wonder, like I often do, if what we do makes a difference, give yourself a moment to look over some of those notes and journal entries at www.caringbridge.org/visit/laraphillips—you won’t wonder as much. Very respectfully and with much gratitude, Capt. Jay Ostrich Senior Public Affairs Specialist Pennsylvania National Guard