FORT SILL, Okla. (Nov. 6, 2014) -- Staff Sgt. Lisa Gammon, 168th Brigade Support Battalion career counselor, recently traveled to Fort Carson, Colo., where she competed for and won the 4th Infantry Division's Career Counselor of the Year.
The Career Counselor of the Year competition is a program of the Secretary of the Army in which Division winners compete at the Corps level, Corp winners at Command level and on up the chain until a single Armywide winner is crowned.
The 4th Infantry Division competition saw the top 11 Career Counselors of the more than 50 in the Division tackle a physical fitness test, written military occupational specialty test and a grueling examination board to decide the winner.
This was not Gammon's first attempt at the competition, but her previous try only served as motivation and inspiration to succeed.
"I didn't want to just be 'good enough,'" said Gammon, "I want to be the best I can be. I started working for this to improve myself and quickly realized that the real beneficiaries of my work would be the Soldiers I serve. That realization made me work harder at every aspect of the process: I hit the gym twice a day to improve my fitness and study at every available opportunity."
The 4th ID Career Counselor of the Year award is decided in a manner similar to that of a Soldier, or noncommis-sioned officer of the year competition in which the best-qualified candidates are selected to compete and the winner decided by a panel of senior NCOs. To be eligible to compete, career counselors must be rank sergeant first class or below, of the military occupation specialty 79S and have worked at least six months in the field.
As for Gammon, the process was not an easy one to conquer.
"I had the experience and I had the knowledge, but I have always been scared to death of boards. They are my biggest Army fear and I get super nervous, so I've used those feelings to motivate myself and focus more on what I need to do to succeed."
The Division Career Counselor of the Year board is no easy board, and nor is the written test. While the board can cover any topic found in a promotion or NCO of the year board as well as MOS specific questions, the written test features questions intended to be both difficult and obscure on numerous specialized topics.
However, this difficulty of subject matter has a direct effect upon the career counselors competing.
"I've had to study and learn about parts of my job that I do not use every day, but by studying these topics I know I can give better advice to Soldiers, especially regarding issues we don't cover as often as others."
This learning portion of the competition and competitors' experience is the point of Career Counselor of the Year program.
By infusing friendly competition and recognition into the process, participants and career counselors in general, are pushed to constantly improve themselves as Soldiers, their skills and knowledge base to better perform in their jobs, aid Soldiers in making the best decisions for their families and careers and assist the Army in retaining the best so as to remain the greatest Army in the world.
"As leaders we have always told Soldiers that they need to improve themselves, and this is one way I try to lead by example," explained Gammon. "Now with the Army downsizing, unfortunately I also have to tell Soldiers that to reenlist they have to stand out by showing initiative. Schools, boards and competitions are just a few of the ways to improve yourself and stand out among your peers, I just hope that by working hard and doing this I have inspired Soldiers and leaders to do similar."
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