Photo By Staff Sgt. Gene Arnold | Chief Warrant Officer 2 Weaver Prosper (left) and Sgt. 1st Class Suzanne Prosper...... read more read more
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CAMP ARIFJAN, Kuwait – These two siblings came a long way from their childhood pranks, rambunctious outtakes and sandy shores of the Commonwealth of Dominica, a small island in the Lesser Antilles region of the Caribbean. Born into a family of hard workers, with a philosophy “Be the Best”, this brother and sister have done just that and remained humble.
“Deployments are hard, being away from family. I’m lucky because I’m here with my brother,” said Sgt. 1st Class Suzanne Prosper, a human resources noncommissioned officer, with the 12th Detachment, 3rd Medical Command Deployment Support. “When things get hard, and I need a hug, I can just walk across the way and get a genuine hug.”
“I know it’s genuine … he loves me,” she added.
Suzanne and her 35 year-old brother, Chief Warrant Officer 2 Weaver Prosper, may be considered lucky to be deployed to the same base for the first time after 15 years of military service.
“We could’ve joined under the ‘Buddy Program,’ but I think a week before we enlisted we got into a small fight, and she decided she didn’t want to be around me anymore,” said Weaver, a general construction technician, assigned to Combined Joint Task Force-Engineer, U.S. Army Central Command. “She went to Fort Drum [New York] and I went to Hawaii. Three months later she called crying and said, ‘Fort Drum is the coldest place ever.’”
“We laugh about it now, but that’s how we got separated,” he added.
Suzanne volunteered to deploy with her reserve unit based outside of Fort Gillem, Georgia, and was excited to learn that Weaver would soon deploy to the same location.
“I was excited. I was really … really excited,” she said.
While away from each other, they both experienced the joys of career progression, combat deployments, the joys of parenthood and family gatherings held once a year.
Suzanne, a sergeant and mother decided that active duty service wasn’t for her anymore and joined the reserves. Weaver, also a fast tracking noncommissioned officer, had thoughts of leaving active duty service as well.
Then, Staff Sgt. Weaver Prosper received some advice by his leadership that helped him lean towards a different path. Shortly after being promoted to sergeant first class, he decided that being enlisted was no longer a direction he wanted to go. Seven years later, he’s been a two time awardee of the Outstanding Engineer Warrant Officer of the Year for 2011 and 2014.
In the upcoming weeks, Weaver is scheduled to head to Washington to be awarded the Modern Technology Leader Award that is based across all branches of service and the civilian sector of the engineer corps.
“If we have success, the way my family is so close, we all have success,” Suzanne said. “If I could go with my brother, they wouldn’t be able to shut me up.”
When asked if Suzanne could describe her family in one word, she said it would be dedicated. It may be seen as ironic that this family’s name is prosper, because through hardships and times of success this family rallies together and cheers each other on.
“My mother is pretty proud … all her children are doing great for themselves, and we have a very close knit relationship,” she said.
For Weaver, his sister’s dedication and professionalism is not just some sort of bias.
“As far as NCOs and doing what’s right, my sister epitomizes that. She’s the type of person that even though I’m her brother and if I’m doing something wrong, it’s an on the spot correction. Sometimes I wish that some NCO’s have the same dedication and drive that she has.
“She’s definitely an inspiration to me. On the [administration] side, she is the best NCO I’ve ever seen. Awards, NCOERs, counseling’s, anything that I have anywhere in the world… she’s the first person I call back too.
After sharing her brother’s sentiments of her professionalism, Suzanne giggled.
“That’s nice to know,” she smiled. “I think that we all have a responsibility once we wear these strips. While you’re supposed to take care of yourself, your Soldiers needs should be right up there with yours.”
“While something may not make me happy, like if a Soldier has to work late at night, I’m going to be sitting right there … I’m going to be right there smiling doing whatever I can to help them,” she said. “At the end of the day, if they fail I’ll see it as a failure on my part as I didn’t do enough to help.”
They both expressed that they wouldn’t be able to get far in their career without the support, mentorship and love from their close family.
When asked if she thought her relationship with Weaver would be as close as it is now based on their relationship growing up she said with a giggle, “Oh no, me and my brother fought so much as children it’s not even funny. I have a card when I turned 22 or 23 years old, that he sent me and he chronicled all the things that he did to me as children with ‘remember when’, but it ended with ‘I still loved you.’”
Her professional and personal sentiment for Weaver is just as strong.
“My brother is a pretty darn good officer if you ask me, he’s well rounded,” she said. “This is the first time actually serving with my brother, and I’ve heard nothing but great things from anyone who’s dealt with him.”
She shared this advice to her brother, “Be who you are, because who you are - is a great person.”
| Date Taken: | 01.27.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 01.28.2015 08:52 |
| Story ID: | 152939 |
| Location: | CAMP ARIFJAN, KW |
| Web Views: | 422 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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