Courtesy Photo | The Army Reserve Medical Command’s 2014 Soldier of the Year Spc. Keith Lewis, a...... read more read more
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PINELLAS PARK, Fla. - The 2014 Army Reserve Medical Command Soldier of the Year was chosen to represent the U.S. Army Reserve Command during September’s Army-wide Best Warrior Competition at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J.
Spc. Keith Lewis, the winner of the 2014 ARMEDCOM Best Warrior Competition said, throughout the tournament of 42 citizen-warriors, no one knew the actual standings until the end.
“It was just you and the grader completing single or individual skills,” said Lewis. “Nobody knew each other, but I knew I was doing well in all the Soldier tasks and drills, as well as the medical lanes.”
The husband and father of three girls was named the ARMEDCOM Soldier of the Year and as the runner-up for USARC Soldier of the Year, he will train and compete side-by-side with the winner Spc. Keegan Carlson, Colorado Springs, Colorado. The winner of the USARC NCO of the Year is Staff Sgt. Landon Norby, St. James, Minnesota.
The resident of Mesa, Arizona, said he is a tree climber, who supervises a team of landscapers, when he is not serving as a behavioral health specialist assigned to the Western Medical Area Readiness Support Group, a job that was critical to his success so far as he strives to become the Army’s Soldier of the Year.
“It's huge because I remember when they first offered me the job,” he said. “My friend asked me if I wanted to do some tree work and climb the trees.”
Lewis said he wanted the job.
“I knew I had a really bad fear of heights, but I told him, "Yeah, I'll do it,’” he said.
“My first time climbing a tree, a small palm tree, took me like 30 minutes to trim whereas now it would take me two minutes,” he said.
“I really wanted to overcome my fear of heights because if I wanted to do anything as far as military goes with rappelling or just basic soldiering skills and obstacle courses, things like that, fear of heights will slow you down,” said Lewis.
“You can't have anything standing in your way,” he said. “That was one thing I wanted to conquer, my fear of heights.”
Lewis, who for two years was a Mormon missionary in Hong Kong, said it also helped that he had the best marksmanship score among the competitors, both Soldier and NCO’s.
“I love shooting,” he said. “My personal time here at home, I have a long range heavy rifle with a good scope on it, and I love just going out shooting half mile targets just by myself. Shooting is what I really love doing.”
Command Sgt. Major Harold P. Estabrooks, ARMEDCOM’s command sergeant major, said Lewis is the best competitor he has had under his responsibility.
“After the combatives, he told me he was disappointed, but I told him he did a great job,” the command sergeant major said. “I have had Soldiers under me, who won at the division-level, but nothing like this—I couldn’t be more proud of him.”
Estabrooks, who presided over the Soldier of the Year board, said Lewis performed well in all the events, but he agreed that his shooting was what made him the runner-up.
Because the scores were kept on a close-hold, Lewis said he went to the ceremony knowing he had done well, but when his name was called, he froze.
“I stopped when they announced my name. I was kind of looking to see who it was,” he said. “I was like: ‘Oh, that's me.’”
It is still all a blur, he said.
“What is funny is when I finally got off the stage, I went up and shook their hands, I looked up and Command Sgt. Maj. Estabrooks is looking right at me,” said Lewis. “His arms are kind of like, ‘What?’ because he talked to me before asking me how I did? I was like, ‘I did OK.”
“I knew I did very well but these guys are very strong competitors,” Lewis said. “The CSM told me that I did a good job, but I just didn't believe in myself enough.”
In his preparations for coming to the joint base once known as Fort Dix, Lewis said he worked with Staff Sgt. Aaron Butler, 4225th U.S. Army Hospital, Fort Harrison, Montana. Butler won the USARC NCO of the Year in 2009 and competed in the Department of the Army competition.
“I knew I had a really good shooting score, I knew I did that very well,” said Lewis. “I knew I could have been top shooter, but I wasn't sure. I was surprised because there were some really strong competitors.”
“I will specifically give it to Sgt. Butler, who was trained by a sniper to compete at the DA-level,” he said.
“He taught me a few just simple positions that really help steady the rifle because I can pull the trigger just like everybody else and look on the sights just like everybody else,” he said. “As far as keeping the rifle steady, the positions really helped me. It dropped my score to an almost perfect 40, almost every shot, every qualification.”
Beside his time at the range, Lewis said his highlight of the four-day competition was during the Litter Carry event, when the competing stopped.
“We hiked eight miles plus for the ruck march, then they made us walk two miles back,” he said. “On the one-mile-mark back, they gave us 200-and-some-pound dummies to carry.”
The competitors were broken up into four-man teams and told they had to carry the dummies back for the last mile, he said.
“It was so hot we were losing so much water,” he said. “We hydrated but we were still losing more water causing one of the sergeants to fall out behind us.”
The civilian tree climber said because he is a Soldier in the medical field he rushed back to render aid.
“I was the first one there, stripping off all his gear to get him hydrated,” he said. “He went unconscious for just a second or two and we took the dummy off the stretcher and placed him on the stretcher carrying him into the shade so medical personnel could render aid.”
The specialist said it was a very serious situation that put the competition in perspective.
“That was something for me as being a competitor, competition is out the window,” he said.
“Now it's time to get real with one of the Soldiers and take care of one of our own because we were all a team. We were all together. I would say that was one of the high points.”
| Date Taken: | 07.01.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 08.14.2014 16:15 |
| Story ID: | 139325 |
| Location: | PINELLAS PARK, FL, US |
| Hometown: | GILBERT, AZ, US |
| Web Views: | 150 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, 'Tree climber' tapped USARC Best Warrior runner-up, by SFC Neil W. McCabe, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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