69th ADA Soldiers rise above peers during Lightning Warrior Week

Photo By Kimberly Hackbarth | Soldiers with 69th Air Defense Artillery Brigade stand before members of an interview board April 3 on Fort Hood, Texas, during Lightning Warrior Week. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Kimberly Lessmeister/ 69th ADA Brigade Public Affairs Office)  

FORT HOOD, TX, UNITED STATES

04.02.2015

Story by Staff Sgt. Kimberly Hackbarth 

69th Air Defense Artillery Brigade

FORT HOOD, Texas – Staff Sgt. Eric Rosser, a medical operations noncommissioned officer in charge, and Spc. Keila Hernandez, a chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear specialist, both with 69th Air Defense Artillery Brigade, had a history of excelling above their peers.

Rosser earned the title of “NCO of the Quarter” for the brigade last December and Hernandez won a battalion-wide Soldier competition to determine who would represent her battalion during the brigade’s quarterly Soldier competition.

Rosser and Hernandez once again rose above their peers and won the titles “NCO of the Year” and “Soldier of the Year” after competing in Lightning Warrior Week March 30 through April 2, here.

Participating in the previous competitions helped solidify both Rosser’s and Hernandez’s confidence and skills.

“It prepared me a lot, especially for the board, because I wasn’t so stressed out about it because I knew what to expect,” Hernandez, a Flagstaff, Arizona, native, with Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 1st Battalion, 44th ADA Regiment, 69th ADA Brigade, said.

Competing and winning Lightning Warrior Week a second time has helped sharpen Rosser’s skills as a leader, he said.

“The experience of going through all the different training events ... (and) training myself and also training other Soldiers just makes me a better all-around NCO,” Rosser, a Fort Worth, Texas, native, explained.

Though they shared the same goal of winning the competition, Rosser’s and Hernandez’s motivations were different.

Hernandez said the people who told her she couldn’t win fueled her motivation.

She said she did not let the fact that she is petite and a female stop her from winning and was humble about the events in which she was not the best.

“I knew I wouldn’t do well in everything,” she said. “It doesn’t affect me because I know I gave it my all, so that’s all that matters.”

Some of the events included an Army Physical Fitness Test, weapons qualification, Soldier skill lanes, land navigation, combatives and a ruck march.

Rosser maintains the same reason for wanting to win the competition as when he won the previous competition, he said.

“Being the senior medic in the brigade, I feel like I can set the standard for all the other medics,” he said.

Now that Rosser and Hernandez won the brigade’s competition, they will move on to represent the brigade in 32nd Army Air and Missile Defense Command’s Soldier competition later this year.

“It’s very humbling to represent the brigade at the division level,” said Rosser.

In preparation for their next challenge, both Rosser and Hernandez said they plan to pursue more rigorous physical fitness routines as well as hone their Soldier skills.

• Date Taken: 04.02.2015
• Date Posted: 04.09.2015 14:20
• Story ID: 159528
• Location: FORT HOOD, TX, US
• Hometown: FLAGSTAFF, AZ, US
• Hometown: FORT WORTH, TX, US