An Army military police and diver have claimed the titles of Fort Leonard Wood's Drill Sergeant and Advanced Individual Training Platoon Sergeant of the Year.
Staff Sgt. Martin Delaney, Company B, 787th Military Police Battalion, is the 2016 Maneuver Support Center of Excellence and Fort Leonard Wood DSoY, while Staff Sgt. Brandon Laspe, Company A, 169th Engineer Battalion out of Panama City, Florida, is the 2016 MSCoE and Fort Leonard Wood AIT PSoY.
For Delaney, this is his second time winning the Best Warrior Competition. In 2014, Staff Sgt. Delaney was selected as the Noncommissioned Officer of the Year.
"I was excited when my name was called as the winner (for Drill Sergeant of the Year)," Delaney said.
Delaney carries on a proud tradition for the military police. He said this is the seventh or eighth year in a row that a 787th MP Bn. drill sergeant has won Drill Sergeant of the Year.
In fact, dating back to 2009, drill sergeants from the 14th Military Police Brigade have claimed the title of Fort Leonard Wood's DSoY.
As for Laspe, he said it felt good to win.
"(Winning) is validation for all the hard work you put into the competition," Laspe said. "I had a general idea (that I was ahead), but it was close."
The DSoY and PSoY will move on to represent Fort Leonard Wood at Training and Doctrine Command's DSoY/PSoY competition at Fort Jackson, South Carolina.
In the meantime, both Delaney and Laspe will prepare.
"First thing I'm going to do is rest and recuperate," Delaney said. "From then on PT (physical fitness training), study Warrior tasks and drills and go over the Total Soldier Concept."
Laspe had the same game plan. "Training, lots of PT (physical fitness training), and I'm going to ruck march," he said.
Also taking top honors in the Best Warrior Competition held on Fort Leonard Wood from Sunday to Thursday include:
- Noncommissioned Officer of the Year: Staff Sgt. Matthew Poole, NCO Academy
- Soldier of the Year: Spc. Dillon Murray, NCOA
- Joint Service NCO of the Year: Staff Sgt. Arron Dean, NCOA
- Joint Service Junior Enlisted Service Member of the Year: Marine Cpl. Markus Solheim, Marine Corps Detachment
The NCoY and SoY will represent Fort Leonard Wood at the TRADOC Best Warrior Competition, which Fort Leonard Wood is slated to host later this summer.
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