U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command recently named Fort Leonard Wood's own Spc. Joshua Roberts as the 2014 Soldier of the Year.
After winning the installation level Soldier of the Year title, Roberts moved on to compete in the weeklong event held at Fort Eustis, Virginia.
Currently serving as the executive assistant to the Maneuver Support Center of Excellence command sergeant major, Roberts was originally attached to the 988th Military Police Company, 92nd MP Battalion, 4th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade, when he won the Fort Leonard Wood competition.
Roberts said his father, Jeff, and his brother, Chris, were both an inspiration to him when it came to joining the Army.
"A lot of that influence is from my brother and my father. They're both in the military; he's a combat medic and my brother is a dental tech," Roberts said. "They've really inspired me to enlist and do great things."
Before entering the Army two years ago, Roberts said he had obstacles to overcome. Tipping the scales at 315 pounds, he had a lot of work to do before he was eligible to enlist.
"I played football and wrestled in high school, because I was a big guy, I weighed at least 285," Roberts said. "I went on to play college football at Rochester Community Technical College in Rochester, Minnesota, and when I got to the team, I was 315 pounds."
After giving college a try he decided it wasn't for him and set out to start his Army career.
"I wanted something bigger and better in life instead of just working in some factory for the rest of my life," Roberts said. "I decided to try and join the military. I went to the recruiter and was told I was too big; he told me I had to lose a lot of weight."
Losing more than 100 pounds within a year's time and determined to prove his friends wrong, Roberts enlisted in the Army as a 31 Bravo (military police).
"I wanted to do something more entertaining, something that was different every day, not the same old, same old," Roberts said. "The diversity of my job, I can go from working the road or working the gates to a combat deployment."
The path to becoming Soldier of the Year began soon after arriving to his first unit.
"In the first two or three days there, I was told I was going to do the company board, and I had no idea what that was. I had never studied for something like that in my life. I didn't know anything about these weapons; I was a complete brand new private," Roberts said. "I went to the board and lost, but I did really (well), so my unit wanted to keep sending me. I kept losing; I never actually won a company Soldier of the Month board."
His platoon sergeant, Sgt. 1st Class Kyle Riley, saw something in him that he didn't see in himself and kept pushing him.
"I was losing all of these boards, and they kept sending me and sending me," Roberts said. "My platoon sergeant talked me into doing it one more time." Digging in deep and studying hard, Roberts finally broke through his losing streak.
"I went to the battalion board and won, and I kept going from there on up. I went from battalion to brigade, from brigade to Soldier of the Quarter, and Soldier of the Year here on post," Roberts said. "It was all a big part of my squad leader and my first sergeant, and I appreciate it."
After winning Fort Leonard Wood's Soldier of the Year, he became Command Sgt. Maj. Terrence Murphy's personal driver, and that is when he started preparing for the TRADOC-level competition, working on getting physically in shape and doing different Soldier tasks.
Roberts' hard work and training was starting to pay off and it showed during the TRADOC competition.
"I felt like I was acing every test, and I just felt great and confident through the whole competition," Roberts said. "During the events, we all pushed each other. During the obstacle course, we would go around and try to motivate each other, then when we got back to the barracks, we would talk about it. We would do a little AAR (After Action Review) between ourselves."
He went on to win the TRADOC competition.
Roberts will now move on the U.S. Army Best Warrior Competition this October in Fort Lee, Virginia, where he will be representing TRADOC.
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