PNG Soldier wins TRADOC Small Group Leaders of the Year

Photo By Wayne Hall | FORT INDIANTOWN GAP, Pa. – Staff Sgt. Frank E. Kiler, a small group leader who teaches the Advanced Leader Course at the Eastern Army National Guard Aviation Training Site Noncommissioned Officers Academy, won the Noncommissioned Officer Academies Small Group Leader of the Year.  

FORT INDIANTOWN GAP, PA, UNITED STATES

07.17.2023

Story by Wayne Hall 

Joint Force Headquarters - Pennsylvania National Guard

By Wayne V. Hall
Pennsylvania National Guard

FORT INDIANTOWN GAP, Pa. – An instructor from the Eastern Army National Guard Aviation Training Site was selected as the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command Aviation Enterprise Noncommissioned Officer Academies Small Group Leader of the Year following a challenging two-day competition conducted here July 11-12.
Staff Sgt. Frank E. Kiler, a small group leader who teaches the Advanced Leader Course at the EAATS Noncommissioned Officers Academy, won the title besting two other competitions – Staff Sgt. Xavier C. Palmer from the NCO Academy at Fort Novosel, Alabama; and Staff Sgt. Alexander J. Roth from the NCO Academy at Fort Eustis, Virginia.
While the competition has been around for some time, this year marked the first time that the EAATS NCO Academy here was selected to host the competition.
“Once we were selected, we immediately began preparations and we tried to make the selected events more focused on the ‘Small Group Leader’ aspect,” said Command Sgt. Maj. Shannon M. Cullen, EAATS NCO Academy commandant. “Rather than making it similar to a typical NCO of the Year or Best Warrior board.
“The quality of the competitors was second to none,” she added. “They represent the best of a select group of soldiers who are responsible for training the next generation of aviation enlisted leaders.”
The competition consisted of a variety of challenge events, including the Army Combat Fitness Test, a mystery event, and NCO Boards.
However, possibly the most unique event took place on day two, as the competitors participated in a staff ride of the Gettysburg battlefield, where each was required to give a prepared presentation from a leader’s point of view – Brig. Gen. John Buford, Col. Joshua Chamberlain, and Confederate Gen. Richard Ewell. The presentations were generated from a requirement to write three-to-five-page essay before the trip.
Kiler said that for him one of the more challenging parts of the competition was the written essay, because the analytical style of writing is taught in a course in which he is currently in – the Army Senior Leaders Course. As if the competition weren’t challenging enough, he had to juggle his course work with the competition.
“The essay focused on mission command principles,” Kiler said, adding that those principles didn’t exist at the time of the battle. “It was very insightful standing on the actual location [where these leaders stood] visualizing it gives you goosebumps. It was surreal actually standing there!”
Competitors were continually challenged throughout the course of the competition.
“The unknown aspect of the mystery event was also challenging,” said Kiler, who has been in the National Guard for 19 years and Pennsylvania National Guard for 13 years. “It is hard to prepare for an event when you don’t know what it is.”
In true instructor form, Kiler offered advice for future competitors hoping to achieve success – “Focus on each event individually, and not the competition as a whole.”

• Date Taken: 07.17.2023
• Date Posted: 07.17.2023 15:43
• Story ID: 449374
• Location: FORT INDIANTOWN GAP, PA, US