Photo By Staff Sgt. Jerry Boffen | Sgt. Mark Fuggiti, a recruiter with the Pennsylvania Army National Guard's Recruiting...... read more read more
FORT BENNING, Ga. – Michael Jordan, who is considered by many to be the greatest basketball player ever, once said, “I’ve missed more than nine thousand shots in my career. I’ve lost almost three hundred games. Twenty-six times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”
Known as a fierce competitor, Jordan chose to turn his shortcomings into strengths by learning from his mistakes, using them to improve. When he came up short, he used that to drive him towards success in the future. Just like Jordan, Sgt. Mark Fuggiti, Orwigsburg, Pa., has learned that with success often comes failures and knows that it is important to learn from those shortcomings for future endeavors, he said.
Unlike Jordan, Fuggiti didn’t compete on the hardwood floor of a basketball court. He had no ball to hold or teammates to pass to and his uniform wasn’t made up of shorts, sneakers and a jersey. Fuggiti’s proving ground was spread out under the blazing sun, falling rain and moonlight of Fort Benning, Ga. Instead of a ball, he carried a rifle. He had only himself to rely upon and his uniform consisted of long pants and sleeves, combat boots, and often included a helmet and other gear. These were Fuggiti’s conditions when he competed during this year’s Army National Guard Best Warrior competition, July 30- Aug. 3.
Fuggiti, a recruiter with the Pennsylvania Army National Guard Recruiting and Retention Battalion, was one of seven competitors that came here looking to earn the title of the Army National Guard’s soldier of the year. To earn a spot in the National Guard level competition, each competitor had to first win his or her state and regional level competitions. It was during those competitions that Fuggiti was able to pinpoint the areas he needed to improve upon to prepare himself for the national competition and those preparations were successful. During an award ceremony Aug. 3, in front of more than 100 soldiers and civilians, Fuggiti was named the Army National Guard’s soldier of the year and when his name was called the entire room stood to applaud the 28-year-old’s accomplishment.
Fuggiti said that winning this title is a great honor but he also realizes that it’s a stepping-stone on his way to an even greater honor. Now he must prepare himself to represent the entire Army National Guard in the Department of the Army’s Best Warrior Competition at Fort Lee, Va. in October. On the final day of the competition, Fuggiti stressed the importance of improving from his shortcomings in this competition.
“I did a lot of physical training and studying but one of the things that we don’t really think of when we come into this is that all of the task you have to do, you’re put into a stressful situation in order to do it,” he said. “Sitting down at home and reading a book and knowing what to do doesn’t really apply when your heart is pounding and you’re in the field having to do it.”
“I’ll definitely have to step my training up to represent the Guard well at the [Department of the Army] competition,” Fuggiti added. “I’m definitely going to spend more time on training for those stressful situations.”
Fuggiti said what drove him throughout the competition stemmed from his wife, Ashley, his son, Joshua, and all the other people back home that supported him.
“My motivation has been my family back home and representing my state and just doing the best I can for my family and myself,” he said.
Coming into this competition, Fuggiti said his short-term goal was to win this competition and go on to represent the Army National Guard at the next level. He has achieved that goal and can now set his sights on his next goal: winning the Department of the Army Soldier of the year competition. Beyond that, Fuggiti said he hopes to earn the rank of Sergeant Major some day. If he continues to improve on his shortcomings and stay as motivated as he was throughout this competition, he may do just that.
| Date Taken: | 08.03.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 08.08.2012 17:15 |
| Story ID: | 92869 |
| Location: | FORT BENNING, GA, US |
| Hometown: | ORWIGSBURG, PA, US |
| Web Views: | 402 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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