Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Flor Gonzalez | A reconnaissance team leader from Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., and a signal...... read more read more
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FORT BRAGG, N.C. - A reconnaissance team leader from Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., and a signal support systems specialist from Fort Carson, Colo., were named U.S. Army Forces Command Noncommissioned Officer and Soldier of the Year, at a banquet Aug. 28, at Fort Bragg, N.C, following four days of competition.
Staff Sgt. Peter Kacapyr, an infantryman and reconnaissance team leader with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment, 3-2 Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 7th Infantry Division, from JBLM, Wash., was named 2014 FORSCOM NCO of the Year.
Cpl. Zachery E. Bandli, a signal support systems specialist and retransmission operator assigned to 534th Signal Company, 43rd Special Troops Battalion, 43rd Sustainment Brigade, at Fort Carson, Colo., was named 2014 FORSCOM Soldier of the Year.
Competing alongside FORSCOM competitors were NCOs and Soldiers from the Continental U.S. Army Service Component Command. Staff Sgt. Luke R. Klein, an internment/resettlement NCO with the 339th Military Police Company, 525th MP Battalion, 302nd MP Brigade, based out of Davenport, Iowa, and currently serving as Joint Task Force Guantanamo Bay, at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, was named CONUS ASCC NCO of the Year.
Spc. Cole Spoon, a microwave systems operator/installer and a network controller for the Southwest Asia Cyber Center, at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, was named CONUS ASCC Soldier of the Year.
The four winners will move on later this year to compete at the Department of the Army NCO/Soldier of the Year.
To compete in the FORSCOM-level event, the nineteen NCOs and Soldiers each had to win a series of unit-level competitions beginning at their respective battalion, brigade, division and corps.
During the 2014 FORSCOM NCO/Soldier of the Year competition, NCOs and Soldiers tested their mettle in a board interview, foot march, obstacle course, physical fitness test, written exam, and warrior tasks at a variety of locations on post. Making the competition even more challenging, the competitors had no idea beforehand what tasks they would have to perform over the four days of competition; each event was revealed only after the completion of the previous task.
“Troopers come out to these competitions wanting a challenge and I believe we gave them a challenge this week,” said Command Sgt. Maj. Scott C. Schroeder, FORSCOM command sergeant major.
For many of the competitors, what they accomplished was significantly more than what they may have expected from themselves.
“I would have been very sorry for myself before I even started the competition,” said Staff Sgt. Kacapyr when asked what he would have thought had he known the schedule of events beforehand. “I just took it one event at a time and tried not to think about what I had to do next.”
Kacapyr received special recognition for having one of his Soldiers, Pfc. Nicholas Jackson, participating in the competition.
“Me and Jackson had a pretty strict training regimen coming up to this competition,” said Kacapyr. “We knew we were ready for anything and we were going to go through it no matter what.”
Spc. Spoon described feeling increasingly drained both physically and mentally once the foot march kicked off.
“The pace was incredibly fast,” Spoon said. “During the foot march particularly, doubts enter the mind. I just took one step at a time and I knew I would make it. It’s amazing what you can accomplish when you really push yourself.”
For Cpl. Bandli, who said he will soon be submitting a packet to become an Army helicopter pilot, self-doubt was his greatest obstacle before the competition. He said he overcame it by constantly asking himself ‘what more can I do to prepare?’ Once the competition began, it was his fellow competitors, many of them persevering despite blisters and other injuries, who kept him motivated.
“Being out there on the courses with my fellow competitors, if they can do it, so can I,” said Bandli.
Being well prepared was extremely important for all the winners and for Staff Sgt. Klein, the uncertainty was not an issue. He came in confident that he was well-prepared for anything.
“I wanted to knock it out for a while,” Klein said. “I know I’ve trained hard. I felt very fit.
Adequate preparation was a common theme among the winners. Although they did not know specifically what tasks would be required of them, physical fitness and broad military knowledge gave them a decisive edge.
“These Soldiers are gaining confidence in themselves,” Schroeder said. “Their peers gain confidence in them. They also gain the confidence of their leadership by coming out and being the best Soldier in their organization.”
Realistic training and the fundamentals, “shoot, move, and communicate”, were key components for many of the events.
“You can’t teach experience to Soldiers; Soldiers have to gain it through doing things,” Schroeder said. “They will take this experience back and they will integrate some of the training ideas they received out here back to their formations.”
In addition to experiencing innovative training, participants developed camaraderie during the competition.
“When they took our sponsors away from us, we were really just around one another and it didn’t really feel like we were competing against each other,” said Klein, who described how the participants would share their expertise with one another. “Even though they were my competition, I wanted it to be a fair competition.”
Lt. Gen. Patrick J. Donahue II, FORSCOM deputy commanding general, presented each winner the Army’s Meritorious Service Medal at the conclusion of the banquet.
“You’ve gone through a crucible that has tested you,” Donahue said, addressing all of the competitors. “The unexpected, the unknown, forced you to work together, to bond together, and compete - and even though you competed as individuals, to get where you got, you had to actually compete as a team. That’s pretty remarkable.”
Among the retired sergeants major in attendance for the awards banquet were Command Sgt. Maj. Andrew McFowler (retired), Command Sgt. Maj. Carl Christian (retired), Command Sgt. Maj. Dennis Carey (retired), Command Sgt. Maj. Chris Nunez (retired), Command Sgt. Maj. Johnny Underwood (retired), Command Sgt. Maj. Cravis Taybron, Jr. (retired), Command Sgt. Maj. Dennis King (retired), Command Sgt. Maj. Mark Dean (retired) and Sgt. Maj. David Hammond (retired).
| Date Taken: | 08.28.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 09.02.2014 15:45 |
| Story ID: | 140978 |
| Location: | FORT BRAGG, NC, US |
| Hometown: | DAVENPORT, IA, US |
| Hometown: | FORT CARSON, CO, US |
| Hometown: | JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, WA, US |
| Web Views: | 733 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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