Before one can fully determine if the American Non-Commissioned Officer is more or less empowered today versus other times in history, it is important to know what empowerment means. According to Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, empowerment is summarized as "the process that allows one to gain the knowledge, skill-sets and attitude needed to cope with the changing world and the circumstances in which one lives." Dictionary.com defines empowerment as giving power or authority to someone. There is no doubt that the US Military is in an ever-changing world, and has been, since our beginning in 1775. The definition used by dictionary.com is the definition that most in the military think of when discussing the term empowerment. Combining these two definitions will allow us to find out if the US Military Non-Commissioned officer is more empowered today in our ever-changing world or as some would suggest, empowerment is simply a buzzword used by leaders but not actually a sound philosophy.

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