Respect: A tale of two command sergeants major

3rd Stryker BCT, 2nd Inf. Div. PAO

January 26, 2012

	International Security Assistance Force Joint Command Command Sgt. Maj. John Troxell meets with U.S. Army Command Sgt. Maj. Terry Gardner, Command Sgt. Maj. of the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, at Forward Operating Base Salerno, Afghanistan, Jan. 20.

AFGHANISTAN — The people and places the military introduces servicemembers to, can at times seem quite small. For every deployment to a remote forward operating base, there are multiple occasions when Soldiers run into an old friend or colleague. Command Sgts. Maj. Samuel G. Murphy and John Wayne Troxell are no different. Their career paths began to crisscross at Fort Bragg, years before their recent meeting in southern Afghanistan. This meeting allowed the two senior non-commissioned officers to look back on their friendship.

“When I was a sergeant, I re-enlisted to go to the 82nd Airborne Division and when I got there, I was assigned to the 3rd Battalion Airborne 73rd Armor,” said Murphy, command sergeant major of the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division. “The free world’s only airborne armor battalion.”

Murphy arrived at 3rd Bn. 73 Armor and was assigned to the mortar platoon in Company A, where Troxell was the first sergeant.

“I first ran into him one Saturday afternoon, when I was upstairs being a typical young sergeant with the Soldiers in the barracks,” Murphy said with a grin. “He came upstairs, cause we were making a lot of noise and he corrected us. I happened to be the highest ranking one there so I got the most correcting,” he said. “The boys would be half in the bag, playing hockey and things like that,” said Troxell, command sergeant major of 1st Corps, Joint Base Lewis McChord. “I would have to put the thump on him and the other noncommissioned officers.”

This was more than 15 years ago, before either realized that their careers would mirror one another. Neither of them thought, at that time that one would be a command sergeant major for a corps and the other a command sergeant major for a subordinate brigade, but Troxell saw plenty of potential in his young sergeant.

“After he knew who I was, he made it a point to call me into his office on a daily basis,” said Murphy. “For some reason he saw potential in me back then, that I didn’t even see myself. He tried to push me to go above and beyond,” he said.

“Murphy was a young, energetic sergeant that was full of energy,” added Troxell. “He was very impressive to me as a young NCO. He was one of the best NCOs in his platoon.”

Mentorships in the Army happen all the time and are not always welcomed in the beginning. However, they bring out the best in the individual being mentored and looking back they are thankful for the experience.

“The way he interacted with me at that time was exactly what I needed,” said Murphy.

When they departed the 82nd Airborne Division, they went separate ways and would never serve directly with each other again, but they were always close by. Murphy’s career always seemed to follow Troxell’s in some way.

“We’ve never deployed together but we’ve seen each other throughout the 15 years that I have known him,” said Troxell.

According to Murphy, Troxell is hard but fair with unyielding standards of discipline, which Murphy has adopted. While Murphy would not say he molded himself after Troxell, he has definitely picked up many of the same traits.

“After 10 years of combat we, as an Army, have become a little bit too over compassionate and a little bit too undisciplined,” said Troxell. “Sam Murphy is the kind of command sergeant major who puts that back into balance, that good balance of discipline and compassion.”

Both believe that the other is exactly the type of command sergeant major the Army needs.
“He genuinely cares about every one of them (his Soldiers), that’s why he’s so hard on wearing your uniform right, wearing your personal protective equipment right,” added Troxell. “He’s exactly the kind of guy we need, because it’s those fundamentals, those basic disciplines that keep Soldiers alive on the battlefield.”

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