One thing that is interesting about the 2024 Presidential elections in the US is that we have two former military members in the Vice Presidential slot. By itself this is not so odd, but what stands out is that both are NCOs, or Non-Commissioned Officers. Usually, political leaders are sprung from the commissioned officers class, from lieutenants to generals. It is nice seeing enlisted NCOs getting a day in the sun.

As far as Tim Walz goes, there are those who will say that he wasn’t actually a Sergeant-Major. He did reach the rank but got out before finishing the schools that would have allowed him to retain the rank and retire at that level. So while he did wear the SGM rank on his uniform, and no doubt held the position’s responsibilities in his unit, when he retired he had to step back down to the last rank that he had fully qualified for, which was a Master Sergeant.

Now, Master Sergeant itself is no small thing; it is a very important achievement and represents a level of Subject Matter Expertise. But here’s the thing…

…there’s something about wearing that Sergeant-Major rank that gets into your brain. Suddenly, you want to cover everything in PT belts, and have a ground guide in the Wendy’s parking lot.

Sergeants-Major are (in)famous for having troops do sometimes redundant, silly things. If one guy (or gal) does something stupid, now everyone in the unit has to get trained not to do the stupid thing, even if that means eating into their free time.

And of course, there’s the weekend safety brief, in which first a Commander addresses their troops before going home, then the senior NCO –a First Sergeant or Sergeant Major– will step up and say “Just to piggyback on what the C.O. said…” and proceed to repeat pretty much everything the Commanding Officer already pointed out, with maybe a handful of minor embellishments.

Whether someone is a Sergeant Major for a career, or simply is allowed to step up and wear it and qualify for the position but chooses not to, the damage is done. Like in a zombie movie, even a small bite will start the infection. It’s like a brain worm, except we have to wait and see if this one survived.