Command Sgt. Maj. Daniel Dailey will be honored Friday as he leaves Training and Doctrine Command to become the next sergeant major of the Army.
The Sunset Retreat ceremony will take place at 4:30 p.m. Friday at Fort Eustis, Virginia. During the ceremony, Dailey will relinquish his responsibility as the senior enlisted adviser for TRADOC.
He will be sworn in as the 15th sergeant major of the Army on Jan. 30.
Dailey, who will succeed Sergeant Major of the Army Raymond Chandler as the service's senior enlisted soldier, has served as the TRADOC command sergeant major since November 2011. In that role, he served as the commanding general's senior adviser on all enlisted-related matters including quality of life and training.
He also played a key role in shaping the future of enlisted professional development, directing and guiding the most significant and fundamental doctrinal changes to enlisted professional development in more than 20 years.
Command Sgt. Maj. Joe Parson, the senior enlisted soldier for the Army Capabilities Integration Center, will serve as the interim TRADOC command sergeant major until Dailey's successor is named.
Dailey, 42, was selected to be the next sergeant major of the Army by Army Secretary John McHugh and Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno.
He will be the youngest soldier to ever serve in the job.
As sergeant major of the Army, Dailey will serve as the Army chief of staff's personal adviser on matters affecting the enlisted force. The exact duties will vary depending on the chief of staff, but much of the senior enlisted soldier's time is spent traveling across the Army to observe training and talk to soldiers and their families.
The sergeant major of the Army also recommends quality of life improvements to Army leadership and sits on councils that make decisions affecting enlisted soldiers and their families.
An infantryman, Dailey has served in Germany and Korea, and at Fort Riley, Kansas; Fort Stewart, Georgia; and Fort Carson, Colorado.
He has served as a radio telephone operator, rifleman, Bradley commander, battalion master gunner, a Primary Leadership Development Course senior instructor, platoon sergeant and first sergeant. He served as a command sergeant major at the battalion, brigade and division levels before being selected as the senior enlisted soldier for TRADOC in August 2011.
He is a veteran of Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, and he deployed four times to support Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation New Dawn.
Michelle Tan is the editor of Army Times and Air Force Times. She has covered the military for Military Times since 2005, and has embedded with U.S. troops in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, Haiti, Gabon and the Horn of Africa.
