:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/archetype/M7F2DFU5OJCT5L55FXG5JFXQWQ.jpg "Meet the next Sergeant Major of the Army 4")
Army Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville announced who the service’s next top noncommissioned officer Thursday afternoon during a professional forum in Alexandria, Virginia.
Command Sgt. Maj. Michael Weimer was selected to succeed Sgt. Maj. of the Army Michael Grinston, who will depart the role in August 2023.
Weimer is currently the top NCO for Army Special Operations Command, a role he assumed in August 2021.
Army spokesperson Sgt. 1st Class Anthony Hewitt confirmed Weimer’s selection in a statement emailed to Army Times.
The Army’s top NCOs typically influence soldier welfare and quality of life issues across the force, though each develops their own portfolio of initiatives to address during their term.
For Grinston, that meant major changes to uniform policy, the rollout of the Army Combat Fitness Test, fostering parenthood policy changes, standardization of expert badges and more.
It’s not clear yet what Weimer’s priorities will be in his next role.
Who is Sgt. Maj. Michael Weimer?
Weimer is a career special operator, according to his official biography and details released by Hewitt.
He joined the Army in 1993 and graduated from Special Forces Assessment and Selection in 1994, becoming a Special Forces weapons sergeant.
Since then, Weimer has served in multiple roles across the special operations community, including time with 7th Special Forces Group. He also served as the top NCO for the special operations task force in Afghanistan from 2019 to 2020.
Hewitt added that Weimer has a bachelor’s degree in strategic studies and defense analysis from Norwich University.
Davis Winkie is a senior reporter covering the Army, specializing in accountability reporting, personnel issues and military justice. He joined Military Times in 2020. Davis studied history at Vanderbilt University and UNC-Chapel Hill, writing a master’s thesis about how the Cold War-era Defense Department influenced Hollywood’s WWII movies.
