Soldiers named USARPAC NCO and Soldier of the Year

By Sgt. Kimberly MenziesJune 16, 2015

Story by Sgt. Kimberly K. Menzies, 94th Army Air and Missile Defense Command Public Affairs

SCHOFIELD BARRACKS, Hawaii-Nineteen U.S. Army Soldiers and Noncommissioned Officers from across the Asia Pacific competed together June 8 through 12 in the 2015 U.S. Army Pacific Best Warrior Challenge to battle for the title of USARPAC NCO and Soldier of the Year.

The winners, Sgt. Michael Hooks and Spc. Jonathan Renteria, with 8th Theater Sustainment Command, will represent USARPAC at the Department of the Army Best Warrior Competition in Washington D.C. in October 2015.

The winners were announced during the formal portion of USARPAC's observance of the U.S. Army's 240th birthday, at its Army Birthday Commemoration Friday evening.

These participants were each selected from amongst their peers throughout the Pacific region after winning their own unit's competition.

The Soldiers took part in a weeklong competition that tested the participants on various level I and level II basic Soldiers skills such as drill and ceremony, media interviews, medical tasks, night/day land navigation, team building, and weapons qualification.

The events designed to test the competitors to their limit both physically and psychologically.

"This competition is some of the hardest training I have been through," said Sgt. Cooper Hall, a cannon crewmember with 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment, 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, representing U.S. Army Alaska. "For instance the [combat lifesaver training], you actually had to push yourself. It definitely put into perspective the job of a medic, and the pressures of your job being to save someone's life."

"I was pretty exhausted this whole competition," said Spc. Mario Garcia, with 1st Battalion, 1st Air Defense Artillery Regiment, 94th Army Air and Missile Defense Command, representing U.S. Army Japan. "It was all good but you have to push yourself through it, and that is what it takes to become the best warrior."

Beyond being competition to prove they are the best, the challenge also was a tool for personal development.

"We know there can only be one," said Command Sgt. Maj. Bryant Lambert, the USARPAC command sergeant major. "Ultimately this competition is about leader development for both our noncommissioned officers and Soldiers."

"Yes, this is a competition but as a group we are learning from each other," said Sgt. Michael Hooks, a horizontal construction engineer with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 130th Engineer Brigade, 8th Theater Sustainment Command. "I picked up different tools for my tool bag that I can take back to my unit and our Soldiers so that I can set them up for success in the future."

"I plan to take what I learned here, back to my unit," said Sgt. Phillip Talley, with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 35th Combat Support Sustainment Battalion, representing U.S. Army Japan. "Hopefully next year, Soldiers coming to this competition will be mentored by me."

"When you win this, it will be because of what you discovered about yourself in this ultimate competition," said Gen. Vincent K. Brook, the commanding general of the U.S Army Pacific. "Being the best in this ultimate competition is to be the best in everything that you do."

"If you could only take one more step, if you could help your teammate one more time when you don't think you have anything left, then you are the best warrior we can give because that is what being the best warrior is about."