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By Keith Anderson
16th Sustainment Brigade
CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE Q-WEST, Iraq — A transportation Soldier and a maintenance non-commissioned officer won the 16th Sustainment Brigade's first quarter board, the Warrior and Warrior Leader of the Quarter board, at the dining facility Oct. 20, 2008.
Four Soldiers and four NCOs, from Contingency Operating Base Speicher, Forward Operating Base Diamondback, and COB Q-West, competed for the title of 'Warrior of the Quarter' or 'Warrior Leader of the Quarter' for the first quarter of the fiscal year 2009.
Spc. Matthew Horton, wheeled vehicle mechanic, 70th Transportation Co., 391st Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, COB Speicher, took the title of top Soldier, and Sgt. Charles Robin, power generation and equipment repair NCO, 632nd Maintenance Co., 18th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, FOB Diamondback, earned the top spot for non-commissioned officers.
Spc. Joshua Daniel, power generation equipment repair specialist, 632nd Maint. Co., and Sgt. Jeremy Catron, shop foreman, 391st CSSB, were runner-up WOQ and WLOQ respectively.
The board began with a "mystery" written test on some of the Army weapons, including hand grenades and the MK-19 40 mm grenade machine gun. Then Soldiers had to perform tasks such as disassembling and reassembling a .50-cal. machine gun, and performing a function test for the weapon.
During the board Soldiers answered questions from traditional categories such as drill and ceremony, land navigation and primary marksmanship instruction, but also fielded "topic questions" about the Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected vehicle program, unit escalation of force directives, and electronic countermeasure systems.
Horton, a 21-year-old from Peculiar, Mo., said his NCOs encouraged him to compete for the title.
"I did well on the promotion board so my NCOs pushed me to go to the quarter board," Horton said. "So I went and took it home."
Horton said he was prepared for most of the competition, except for singing the 3rd Expeditionary Sustainment Command song, because he'd never actually heard the song.
"I didn't have any kind of tune so I just yelled it really loud," he said.
He was glad he competed at the board.
"It was a positive experience, and gave me an opportunity to set myself apart from my peers," he said. "It feels good. I'm ready to compete at the next level."
Horton and Robin will advance to compete at the 3rd ESC's board at Joint Base Balad in November.
Robin, a 22-year-old from St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, said winning the board was another step towards his goal of getting inducted into the Army's Audie Murphy club.
"It's satisfying," Robin said. "It gives me a sense of fulfillment. I know I achieved something I set out to achieve."
| Date Taken: | 10.28.2008 |
| Date Posted: | 10.28.2008 02:41 |
| Story ID: | 25617 |
| Location: | QAYYARAH, IQ |
| Web Views: | 408 |
| Downloads: | 390 |
This work, 'Knights' compete at first brigade quarter board in Iraq, by SGT Keith Anderson, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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