 The U.S. Army Research Laboratory recently welcomed its new senior enlisted advisor, Sergeant Major David Snipes. Being a Sergeant Major means different things to different folks. For myself, I think it means influencing change, having the opportunity to make a difference and being at the level to where you come in with an instant credibility, but you have to maintain that credibility. You have to let the workforce know that you are a part of their family. As the lab's Sergeant Major, Snipes will provide advice and counsel to the civilian leadership of ARL as well as its scientists and engineers. I believe our way ahead truly is for myself and the mill depth to actually get out to the War College, the Sergeant Major Academy, and be able to brief a time block about what the Army Research Lab is and what we do so when they go back to their organizations, as new commanders in Sergeant Major, they can put the word out and get folks in here. The Sergeant Major has extensive experience in special operations and satellite communications. Snipes visited with researchers at the Weapons and Materials Research Laboratory and the Vehicle Technology Laboratory at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, September 12th. Snipes said he looks forward to meeting with all ARL employees. Soldiers that you talked to about the Army Research Lab have never heard of it. I'd been in just over 26 years and I'd never heard of the Army Research Lab until I got here. Recently in a forum, we had a service member panel and it was kind of the same consensus that most soldiers that are here had never heard of it until they came on assignment. He comes to the laboratory from a joint assignment at McDale Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida. I would like to say thank you for having the faith in me and the confidence that I will be the right person for the job and thank Dr. Prakanti and the team that actually hired me on board to see that that confidence does resonate and that I will be here and move our organization forward. A South Carolina native, Snipes joined the Army in 1992. He holds a bachelor's degree in liberal arts with a concentration in psychology. How does this machine actually fix a problem on an aircraft? Soldiers are assigned to the Army Research Lab to ensure that we are producing a relevant product to the warfighter. We like to get the soldiers straight out of operational units into the Army Research Lab as quickly as possible so the information and the experience that they have is still relevant. The Sergeant Major has completed multiple real-world operations across the globe to include Bosnia, Qatar, the Philippines, Iraq, Afghanistan, and several locations on the continent of Africa and the Middle East. Looking most forward to learning new things, meeting the personnel, the workforce, for me being a communicator, there's so many other aspects and areas here that I've never dealt with. I've never dealt with the basic research type stuff and the other products that we produce here so actually learning what the true focus is and the true mission of the scientists and all they're doing and ensure that we're getting a better product to the soldier. Snipes replaces Sergeant Major Keith Taylor, who will retire from the Army later this year.