ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md. -- Four Soldiers will test their physical fitness, endurance, technical aptitude and reasoning skills May 20 to 23 as they vie for honors in the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command.
On a cloudy, muggy morning, three staff sergeants and one sergeant kicked off the four-day competition for RDECOM Noncommissioned Officer of the Year with the Army Physical Fitness Test.
Twenty Soldiers, led by Sgt. Maj. Kenneth Agueda, gathered at Lauderick Creek Training Site as the four participants began the competition with a land-navigation course through the woods of APG. They had three hours to plot grids and find select points using only a compass, pencil and map.
The competition's first day continues with medical-evacuation casualty load training using a National Guard helicopter and a night land-navigation course.
The week-long test includes tasks that examine the Soldiers' physical and mental abilities: an obstacle course at Gunpowder Military Reservation, urban orienteering at APG, essay and written exam, and board appearance before RDECOM's sergeants major.
Vying for the awards are:
-- Staff Sgt. Joshua Hawes, an explosive ordnance disposal technician assigned to Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center, EOD Technology Directorate, at Picatinny Arsenal, N.J. He is from Chesterfield, Va., and has seven years of service.
-- Staff Sgt. Eric Linder, a UH-60 maintenance supervisor assigned to Aviation and Missile Research, Development and Engineering Center's Aviation Applied Technology Directorate at Fort Eustis, Va. He is from Conway, Ark., and has 15 years of service.
-- Staff Sgt. Joshua Menninger, a counter-mine section leader assigned to Communications--Electronics Research, Development and Engineering Center's Night Vision and Electronic Sensors Directorate at Fort Belvoir, Va. He is from Tampa, Fla., and has six years of service.
-- Sgt. Charles Andrzejewski, an Infantryman assigned to Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center at Natick, Mass. He is from Millcreek, Pa., and has 10 years of service.
RDECOM Command Sgt. Maj. Lebert Beharie will preside over an awards ceremony May 23. The winner will advance to the Army Materiel Command NCO of the Year competition.
RDECOM is a major subordinate command of the U.S. Army Materiel Command. AMC is the Army's premier provider of materiel readiness -- technology, acquisition support, materiel development, logistics power projection, and sustainment -- to the total force, across the spectrum of joint military operations. If a Soldier shoots it, drives it, flies it, wears it, eats it or communicates with it, AMC provides it.
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