JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas –
Eleven Brooke Army Medical Center Troop Command Soldiers competed Nov. 3-5 to be named BAMC’s Soldier and Noncommissioned Officer of the Year.
In the end, Army Spc. Pascal Anderson, Company C, was named Soldier of the Year for the second year running, while Army Staff Sgt. Ryan J. Figueroa, Company B, garnered the title of NCO of the Year during a ceremony Nov. 6 at Freedom Park.
Anderson is a radiology specialist and Figueroa is a combat medic at BAMC.
“It feels awesome knowing I am considered among the best NCOs across Brooke Army Medical Center,” Figueroa said. “It’s a blessing and a privilege and I am thankful to have the opportunity to compete against the best NCOs across the Army.”
Anderson said the competition was strong.
“I am glad that I got to see new faces,” he said. “These competitions are good ways to stay in training when it comes to basic military tasks.”
To be named the Soldier and NCO of the year, the Soldiers who were named quarterly winners had to compete in several events including the new Army Combat Fitness Test, an oral board and written test, drill and ceremony, land navigation, an obstacle course, a six-mile ruck march, tactical combat casualty care and warrior tasks, weapons qualification and 12-mile ruck march.
Staff Sgt. Veronica Sheppard, an operating room technician, was part of the cadre this year. This was her first time helping with the competition, she has previously competed.
“This is my first time being able to watch and see them sweat, instead of being the one to sweat,” she said.
“The competition is tough,” she said. “Usually you can tell who is in the lead, but these guys aren’t playing. It was really hard to determine who was in the lead because everyone was giving it their all.”
Staff Sgt. Jarvis Manning helped run the obstacle course during the competition.
“It was good to see some of the personnel go through the course and overcome some of their fears,” Manning said.
For Figueroa, the 12-mile ruck march and night land navigation were the toughest events during the three-day competition.
“My fellow competitors were just as deserving of winning the competition,” Figueroa said. “They all performed very well and forced me to push myself to my limits throughout the entire duration of the competition.”
Everyone agreed that competitions like this one are good for Soldier readiness.
“Readiness never stops, the Army is not going to stop, so we can’t stop,” Sheppard said. “We still need to maintain physical and mental discipline, because we still need to meet operational demand.”
“The United States Army and the United States military must maintain a ready to fight fit force to continue operations and prepare for any type of movement in a global situation,” Manning added.
Figueroa and Anderson will go on to compete in the Regional Medical Command-Central Best Warrior competition.