Sergeant (E-5)

The sergeant operates in an environment where
the sparks fly. The sergeant can be accurately
described as being where the axe meets the stone.
Although not the lowest level of rank where command
is exercised, this level is the first at which enlisted
soldiers are referred to as sergeant, and of all the
grades of the NCO, this one, very possibly, has the
greatest impact on the lower ranking soldiers. Privates,
who are the basic manpower strength and grade of the Army,
generally have sergeants as their first NCO leader.
It is the grade sergeant that the privates will look
to for example.

The rank of sergeant is not a position for learning how
to become a leader, no apprenticeship here. While certainly
the new sergeant will be developing new skills, strengthening
old ones and generally getting better, he is a sergeant!!!
and is therefore, no less a professional than those grades
of rank to follow