Twitter
Facebook
***image1***
A 21st Theater Support Command Soldier has been named the Army’s best.
At the Sergeant Major of the Army awards luncheon in Washington, D.C. Oct. 9, during the Association of the U.S. Army annual meeting, Sgt. Maj. of the Army Kenneth O. Preston announced Spc. John Emmett, 21st TSC, Kaiserslautern, as the Army’s Soldier of the Year.
Specialist Emmett, a signal support systems specialist with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 21st TSC, said he accepted the honor “with humility, realizing there are many just-as-deserving troops deployed downrange.”
“There are thousands of Soldiers pulling duty in Iraq and Afghanistan who could have just as easily been recognized,” said Specialist Emmett, a mobilized reservist from Greenwood, Ind. “It is their service and sacrifice that allowed me to train, prepare and compete at the highest level.”
Specialist Emmett and nine other major command representatives vied for honors during the 2006 Department of the Army Noncommissioned/Soldier of the Year Competition, Oct. 1 to 6 at Fort Lee, Va. The event was renamed the “Best Warrior Competition,” reflecting the Army’s current training objectives.
“We trained in the past to fight the Cold War,” said Command Sgt. Maj. Anthony Aubain, NCOY/SOY coordinator. “But times change; we should be learning the same way our deployed Soldiers are while walking the streets of Iraq.”
Applauding all of the competitors, the sergeant major of the Army said, “Many of these NCOs and Soldiers in this year’s competition volunteered to join the Army after Sept. 11, 2001, knowing full well that they would deploy into harm’s way. They embody the seven Army Values and they live the Soldiers’ Creed every day.”
