Awards ceremony

Photo By Sgt. Marcus Floyd | Lt. Gen. Mark Milley, commanding general of Fort Hood, presents an award to Sgt. La Vue and Spc. Ryan Penix, winners of the Separate Brigade Noncommissioned Officer Soldier of the Month Quarterly Competition, July 11, 2014, at the Spirit of Fort Hood Chapel on Fort Hood, Texas. The competition consisted of an Army Personal Fitness Test, a weapons qualification, warrior task, a written test and a board appearance.  

FORT HOOD, TX, UNITED STATES

07.17.2014

Story by Spc. Marcus Floyd 

7th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment

FORT HOOD, Texas - Soldiers on Fort Hood gathered for the first Quarterly Awards Ceremony July 11, 2014, at the Spirit of Ford Hood Chapel on Fort Hood, Texas.

Among those Soldiers were the winners of the Culinary Arts Competition, the Sullivan Cup Competition, the Separate Brigade Noncommissioned Officer Soldier of the Month Quarterly Competition and the Best Team Competition by completing various tasks for each competition such as, weapons qualifications, land navigation, a nutrition hot food challenge and many other tasks.

"It's a pretty great achievement to me," said Spc. Olivia Newberry, one of the award recipients for the Best Team Competition and a Soldier with the 36th Engineer Brigade. "I've never really done a competition like that before and it shows how when you push yourself hard enough you can win anything."

To win the Best Team Competition, the Soldiers were required complete shooting tasks, movement drills, land navigation, communication and medical tasks.

The beginning of many, the first Quarterly Awards Ceremony, sets the precedent for many awards ceremonies to come.

"My intent is, over time, this becomes a huge, post-wide thing," said Lt. Gen. Mark Milley, the commanding general of Fort Hood. "It will be a whole series of competitions that ranges from athletic competitions between units, competitions of specific skills like culinary arts and then general purpose military skills."

Even though her team was already victorious, knowing more competitions are in the future makes Newberry want to try to win again.

"I would certainly like to try again," said Newberry. "I think everyone would like that."

By creating more opportunities for Soldiers on Fort Hood to compete, Milley hopes to instill a spirit of winning within the Soldiers.

"Competition is the very essence of what we do," said Milley. "We are in an organization that competes against enemies of our nation, and we get paid to win. We get paid to dominate a battlefield and assert U.S. national security over an opponent. We don't get paid for losing, we get paid for winning, and you have to instill the spirit of winning and the spirit of competition into you."

The Culinary Arts Competition consisted of Armed Forces Chef of the Year, Student Chef of the Year, a nutrition hot food challenge, live cooking competitions and demonstrations, team tables and cold food display, a military hot food challenge and three-course military hot food kitchen meals.

The Sullivan Cup Competition consisted of a challenge course, a precision gunnery, a mystery event and several other challenges.

The Separate Brigade NCO/SM Quarterly Competition consisted of an Army Personal Fitness Test, a weapons qualification, warrior task, a written test and a board appearance.

• Date Taken: 07.17.2014
• Date Posted: 07.18.2014 11:56
• Story ID: 136521
• Location: FORT HOOD, TX, US