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When a 19-year-old high school graduate and Army hopeful went to
meet with a recruiter in New Jersey decades ago, he weighed in at a
mere 99 pounds and was nearly turned away by the service. But the
optimistic enlistee said he didn't let that deter him.
“In
1977, they had a height and weight minimum scale,” Army Chief
Information Officer/G-6 Lt. Gen. Robert S. Ferrell recalled. “I
stepped on the scale, and I was 10 pounds underweight.” The
recruiter told him to go home, eat bananas, drink milk and come back
in two weeks to see if he could make the minimum weight for
enlistment.
Ferrell ... the Army's first African American
chief information officer, strategic directive and policy advisor to
the secretary of the Army and overseer of some $10 billion in
information technology and command and control investment ... said
he simply heeded his mother's advice: “Follow your dreams, and don't
let anyone get in front of you and say you can't do that.”
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Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno and Monique Ferrell pin
three-star rank on Army Lt. Gen. Robert S. Ferrell during a Jan. 24,
2014, promotion ceremony at Fort Lesley J. McNair in Washington,
D.C. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Steve Cortez)
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Three weeks into basic training at Fort Jackson, South
Carolina, Ferrell said, his drill sergeant still had doubts
about his ability to succeed. But Ferrell did succeed,
stayed in, and rose swiftly through the ranks.
The Desire to Excel
“Coming into the Army as a private, ... I couldn't imagine
being a three-star [general] ... as a senior signal leader,”
Ferrell said. “It started with having the desire to excel.
It has to come from within.”
But the right tools also
help, the general explained.
"The key to success in
the military was higher education, and so I took advantage
of that,” he said. “I went to school at night, [and] by the
time I got to the end of my four-year commitment, I had two
years of college under my belt. I got out and went back to
school with the goal of getting my degree, getting a
commission and also finding a life partner there at Hampton
University."
Those goals, he said, would drive his
life decisions.
Though he had African-American role
models, the general said, his mentors far exceeded that
realm. They included a variety of people, he added, such as
enlisted soldiers, officers, and civilians, all of various
nationalities.
Early in his career, Ferrell said, the
35th Signal Brigade commander at Fort Bragg, North Carolina
allowed him -- then a captain and a signal leader with a
background in Ranger School and Special Forces -- to command
a company in the brigade. That brigade commander, Robert E.
Gray, eventually led the Army Signal Corps as a lieutenant
general.
That opportunity to command “was really the
spark on allowing me to succeed along the way in my career,”
Ferrell said.
Strength
Comes From Working Together
Ferrell also
listed a number of other leaders who, regardless of race,
were “central players” in his career development.
“The strength of our Army occurs when all service members
are working together to accomplish a common goal,” Ferrell
said. “It's not about race. It's not about gender. It's not
about nationality. It's about identifying those men and
women who have the background, the ability, the skills, the
culture that bring those qualities to the table to
accomplish those common goals.”
The Ferrell family,
the general noted, has a personal stake in these tenets,
having served the nation and the armed forces for seven
decades. His father served in the Signal Corps during the
Korean and Vietnam wars, and six of his seven siblings
served in the Army and the Air Force, which he said inspired
him to follow a similar path.
‘Growing Up in the Military Family
... Really Inspired Me'
“When you look at
providing the best capable equipment in the hands of our
soldiers, the Signal Corps enables them to fight and win the
battle and preserve the peace for the United States,”
Ferrell said. “Growing up in the military family, seeing
what they did, really inspired me.”
Ferrell has two
sons. One is a graphic designer in college, and the other
serves as a Signal Corps sergeant at the Joint Communication
Support Element in Tampa, Florida.
Ferrell's wife of
31 years, Monique, is a federal employee with the Army
Auditing Agency who has ascended to the senior executive
service.
Being able to set goals, have a mentor, be a
mentor to others and focus on helping all individuals
regardless of race, gender or nationality constitute the
pillars of success, Ferrell said.
“At the end of the
day, it's about having a better military for this nation,”
he said. “The strength of our Army is our soldiers, and the
strength of our soldiers is our family. ... That makes us Army
strong.”
By Amaani Lyle
DOD News / Defense Media Activity
Copyright 2015
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