FORT BLISS, Texas — Sergeants Major across the Army have reacted with stunned outrage after candid comments from a spokesman for the Sergeants Major Academy were included in a recent story in the Army Times newspaper.

Command Sgt. Maj. Rory Malloy, current commandant of the Sergeants Major Academy system of professional NCO education, admitted during an interview with Times' reporter Leo Shane that the rank and position were both "pretty much worthless."

Malloy also went on to describe how the position of sergeant major was simply a by-product of having to put someone in charge of the first sergeants. "There was really no other reason for it," he said.