Photo By Staff Sgt. Shawn Morris | Sgt. Kelvin Santiago of the 99th Readiness Division participates in the division's...... read more read more
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JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. – As a Trenton native, Sgt. Kelvin Santiago didn’t have to go far to find a new challenge in his military career.
Santiago joined seven of his fellow Army Reserve Soldiers in the 99th Readiness Division’s FY21 Best Warrior Competition Train-Up Feb. 22-26 at division headquarters here.
“The overall competition is a good learning experience,” said Santiago, an aviation operations specialist currently on orders with the 99th Readiness Division.
The BWC Train-Up is designed to prepare Soldiers for the upcoming Combined Readiness Division BWC by improving their depth of knowledge and proficiency in military skills in a competitive, tactical environment.
The event promotes and sustains a culture of excellence, leadership, individual readiness and team-building within the command.
“I am going to try to earn the Expert Soldier Badge,” said Santiago, a five-year Army Veteran who deployed to Iraq and Syria in 2019.
Earning the Expert Soldier Badge tests a Soldier's proficiency in physical fitness, marksmanship, land navigation and other critical skills, and demonstrates a mastery of the art of soldiering.
This year’s Army Reserve-level BWC will be based upon the Expert Soldier Badge tasks.
“The command sergeant major of the Army Reserve, Command Sgt. Maj. Lombardo, wants to have all the BWC events centered around the Expert Soldier Badge tasks,” explained Command Sgt. Maj. John Zimmerman, command sergeant major of the 99th RD. “We wanted to give the readiness division Soldiers an opportunity to get their hands on the weapons systems and different things they’re going to encounter in the Expert Soldier Badge testing that they would see at the Fort McCoy USARC event.”
All four Army Reserve readiness divisions will meet at Fort Hunter Liggett, California, in March for a Combined Readiness Division “Top Squad” BWC. The top five Soldiers from that event will represent the four RDs at the Army Reserve-level competition to be held in May at Fort McCoy, Wisconsin.
| Date Taken: | 02.25.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 02.25.2021 12:27 |
| Story ID: | 389900 |
| Location: | JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, NJ, US |
| Web Views: | 110 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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