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Sergeant Major of the Army crashes Soldier's re-enlistment
The US Army’s top leaders, Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George, and Sergeant Major of the Army Michael Grinston, crashed a Soldier’s reenlistment ceremony.
Staff Sargent. Dylan Kunze, who has been serving with the 30th Air Defense Artillery Brigade out at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, for 10 years, had taken to social media in January to make his reenlistment a special moment.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Awesome day yesterday as Sergeant Major of the Army Grinston addressed the Fires Symposium (even joining a recognition of the MacArthur JROTC program), conducted an LPD with some of our drill sergeants, and took part in a reenlistment of one of our NCOs. Phenomenal! Fires Strong! <a href="https://t.co/fFlEsNjcVV">pic.twitter.com/fFlEsNjcVV</a></p>— 7_Fires (@7Fires3) <a href="https://twitter.com/7Fires3/status/1654061758099738624?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 4, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Kunze’s goal was to make his reenlistment memorable, and he thought that having two of the Army’s most senior leaders, on the enlisted and officer side, participate in the ceremony would be the perfect way to achieve that.
He posted a message on Reddit asking if it was possible to get Gen. George and Sergeant Major of the Army Grinston to take part in the ceremony. Kunze, however, was worried that it was too late to get them on the books for the ceremony.
“I wanted to do something big because this was the last reenlistment,” Kunze told Military Times. ” I’ve already done the cool location or the cool thing for it. So, I was just thinking to myself ‘How could I really make this as big as it can be?”
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Fortunately, with the assistance of some people, Kunze’s wish was granted, and George and Grinston took part in the ceremony in February. Kunze was thrilled and called it “an honor” to have these two leaders participate in his ceremony. Kunze, who enlisted as an infantryman before moving over to the Patriot Fire Control Enhanced Operator/Maintainer field in 2017, experienced the loss of a child in 2020. He credited his commanding officer and enlisted leaders for helping him and his family through those difficult times.
“I’ve met a whole slew of great leaders in the Army, and they’ve always just been there for me,” Kunze said.
The ceremony was not only special to Kunze but also to his colleagues, who were amazed that such high-ranking officials participated in his reenlistment. Kunze said people were “flabbergasted” online that the ceremony included Grinston holding the flag during the reenlistment.
“Our Soldiers and Families are the most important part of our Army,” Grinston said in a statement to Military Times.
The Army has long valued comradery and leadership, and Kunze’s reenlistment ceremony exemplified those aspects of military service. Kunze’s colleagues and friends were proud of him and grateful to have such dedicated leaders in their ranks.
