At Sandy Basin Community Center on Sept. 2, the coveted Forces Command Sergeant Audie Murphy Award bronze medallion was presented to 2916th Aviation Battalion's Staff Sgt. Jeffrey Clapp, in ceremony attended by a hundred NTC senior leaders and Audie Murphy Club members.
Honoring Clapp with this singular honor were National Training Center commander Maj. Gen. Joseph Martin and Command Sergeant Major Noe Salinas, who presented the medallion with its distinctive powder blue ribbon to Clapp. In receiving this award, Clapp gained entry in Fort Irwin's Sergeant Audie Murphy Club, its first inductee in the past 14 months.
At the ceremony, NTC Command Sergeant Major Noe Salinas noted how he himself became a SAMA awardee and member in 1996, because of his first sergeant at that time, First Sergeant Terry Smart. "He pushed, coached, and pushed some more. Just like everything else in our careers, this event continued to shape the kind of leader I have become," Salinas said.
Salinas continued, "We are recognizing a non-commissioned officer who has gone beyond his daily duties and responsibilities. Sergeant Clapp has truly displayed the "Be, Know, Do" that all NCO's strive to accomplish and exhibit."
"The program is designed to coach, teach and mentor our super NCOs. It singles out the NCOs who are truly the best and brightest, and provide the everyday NCO leadership that shapes the rest of the corps of non-commissioned officers," Salinas said.
Command Sgt. Maj. Albert Rodriguez, the 2916TH Aviation Battalion's command sergeant major, who urged Staff Sgt. Clapp to vie for the award, noted how eight months ago, he challenged his battalion's NCO's to set their sights on achieving excellence, "to strive to make themselves a little bit better. One of the NCO's who stepped up …is standing before you today."
Rodriguez noted how Clapp had followed his brother Jacob, older by six years and taller by six inches, into the Army. Rodriguez said he phoned Clapp's older brother soon after the selection was announced, and found out that Jeffrey had already called his older brother as soon as he heard the news. Jacob told Rodriquez how he used to beat up his younger brother when they were boys "for being a monster."
"Sergeant Clapp, you are no longer the underdog. You are the odds-on favorite. But you can't just go on your own. You have to make your entire team better. It's time to make your entire team the odds-on favorite," Rodriguez said.
Fort Irwin post chapter president Sgt. 1st Class Wendy Talton noted that the 32 members in the Fort Irwin chapter "serve the corps of Army Non-Commissioned Officers, from corporals to first sergeants or master sergeants. We also teach, coach and mentor Soldiers. It doesn't matter what rank they are," Talton said.
Talton said that club members are inducted after being awarded the Sergeant Audie Murphy award, by successfully completing a rigorous, four-step screening and selection process, including recommendations from their senior NCOs, passing a performance test, then going before a battalion/squadron level, then brigade-level and finally a post-level board that test them on leadership abilities, critical thinking, technical and tactical knowledge and Soldier care through a variety of challenging situational questions.
Inductees are also mentored by SAMC members at chapter meetings and activities, including volunteer work for SAMC projects, while also studying for the SAMC on various topics but especially depicting what leadership truly is, as exemplified by Sergeant Audie Murphy, the Army's most decorated Soldier of World War II and later a Hollywood movie star and recording artist.
Talton noted that the next Audie Murphy board is coming up in November. "I hope someone accepts the challenge to come before the board and understands what it is to be a Sergeant Audie Murphy member. That means taking the lead on more challenges and helping the community, leading from the front."
In an interview shortly after the ceremony, Clapp said, "It's really an honor. I'm still pretty amped up. It's an awesome responsibility. I hope I can give to the club what the club gave me."
Social Sharing