CONTINGENCY OPERATING LOCATION Q-WEST, Iraq - A Mississippi Army National Guard Soldier received a Command Sergeant Major's Award during a ceremony at Contingency Operating Location Q-West, Feb. 5.
Spc. Jonathan C. Hudson - a gun truck commander from Batesville, Miss., serving with the Base Defense Operations Center, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 198th Combined Arms, 155th Brigade Combat Team, out of Senatobia, Miss. - was acknowledged for embodying the Army value of honor.
To honor outstanding service at the end of the deployment, the senior NCOs of the battalion recognized seven Soldiers from throughout the Battalion who embody one of the Army values of loyalty, duty, respect, service, honor, integrity and personal courage, said Command Sgt. Maj. Perry Campbell.
"This is an NCO-driven effort to honor Soldiers who stood out during the deployment," said Campbell, a native of Senatobia, Miss. "The NCOs wanted to remind every Soldier in the Battalion that outstanding service is not always the result of a single act. It is the everyday practice of upholding the Army values."
Sgt. Maj. John T. Raines, battalion operations sergeant major and resident of Flowood, Miss., said that Hudson is an indispensible asset to the company.
"Honor provides the moral compass for character and personal conduct," said Raines. "It is to have a keen sense of right and wrong, to live by words and deeds above reproach, living up to all the Army values. During this deployment, Spc. Hudson has embodied all the Army values, stepping apart from all the junior enlisted Soldiers in HHC."
Raines said that a shortage of NCO's in the BDOC required junior Soldiers to assume greater responsibility.
"Specialist Hudson has stepped up as an operations NCO, filled in as a tactical operations center NCO and has served as the truck commander of the battalion commander's personal security detail. He has excelled in all these duties and proven to be reliable for any task assigned. Being a Soldier is about more than your small team or even your company. It is about doing right all the time and having the fortitude to live up to these values, even if it is going to alienate you from your peers from time to time. Specialist Hudson truly embodies the Army value of honor and lives up to all the Army values."
Main thing I do is take care of the battalion commander's truck. I started as the driver, then became the gunner, and now I am the truck commander. So I've performed every role as a gun truck crewmember.
Sgt. 1st Class Jimmy R. Tullos, operations NCO and native of Florence, Miss.,
"On two different occasions, specialist Hudson has been put into a situation where he was faced with the dilemma of choosing to uphold the Army values or his peers. He found it within himself to follow the Army values to choose the path that was the harder one; he has used this deployment to show that he is not a typical specialist in the Army, and I look forward to seeing how far he rises through whatever path he chooses.
Campbell said that all Soldiers must uphold the Army Values, but these Soldiers were chosen for their exemplary embodiment of those values.
Hudson said he was humbled by the distinction.
"This makes me feel humble," said Hudson. "There's a lot of good Soldiers in the company, and the senior NCOs picked me. Honor is living up to all the Army Values, and to be recognized for that is especially nice. I always try to do the right thing. I follow the rules. I'm going to tell the truth, even if some people don't want to hear it."
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