USA Medical Command selects Career Counselor of the Year

The US Army Medical Command named its top Career Counselor of the Year following a daylong competition held Nov. 18.

Sgt. 1st Class Kenneth Parrish, representing the Southern Regional Medical Command, was named the US Army Medical Command Career Counselor of the Year, with Staff Sgt. Kindra Ford, representing the Western Regional Medical Command, as the runner-up.

Parrish received the USAMEDCOM Career Counselor trophy and the Meritorious Service Medal award signed by Lt. Gen. Patricia Horoho, the Army Surgeon General and USAMEDCOM Commanding General.

Ford received the Eagle trophy from the USAMEDCOM Retention Office.

The announcement was made in front of more than 300 senior NCOs and officers attending the USAMEDCOM/Office of the Surgeon General Advances in Military Medicine Conference at the Gateway Club, Lackland Air Force Base on Nov. 19.

Career Counselors Staff Sgt. Joseph Moore, European Regional Medical Command, Staff Sgt. Demar Bowman, Northern Regional Medical Command, and Sgt. 1st Class Tamara Price, Materiel Regional Medical Command also competed in the competition.

The competition began with an early morning physical fitness test, followed by a 50- question written exam, and the most grueling of all, facing a selection Board which consisted of senior Noncommissioned Officers asking a variety of questions from current events to questions that covered subjects such as the Noncommissioned Officers Creed, the MEDCOM Career Counselor Creed, retention policy, retention operations and incentives, reenlistment, training, Reserve Component guidelines and much more.

Parrish, assigned to Blanchfield Army Community Hospital, Fort Campbell, Ky., has been a Career Counselor for nine years.

He said," I am excited. I did not expect to win. I studied hard. It was a great competition, competing with my counterparts."

Parrish describes a typical day in his office.

He said, "Soldiers come to his office and sometimes they just want someone where they can go and vent their frustrations about their unit."

"But, I also help them get ready for the next step in their life, whether it be in the Army or civilian life. I make sure to steer them in the right direction," added Parrish.

Career Counselors are noncommissioned officers and are usually assigned at battalion levels or above. Career Counselors advice commanders and command sergeants major about the organizations Army Retention Program and advice soldiers and their families about the benefits and opportunities the Army as a career has to offer. Career Counselors are subject matter experts in reenlistment, education benefits and reclassification.

Parrish will represent the USAMEDCOM at the Secretary of the Army Career Counselor of the Year Board competition to be held in Virginia in January 2015.