WIESBADEN, Germany- U.S. Army Europe recognized six human resources personnel for their dedication and hard work at the 2016 Fredrick E. Vollrath Human Resources Award ceremony here Jan. 6.
The program was initiated in 2010 to recognize human resource personnel throughout Europe for their quality of service and leadership. The prestigious award was named after retired Lt. Gen. Frederick E. Vollrath who spent 45 years in the human resources field and was the second adjutant general to be promoted to lieutenant general.
This year the ceremony was even more significant as Maj. Gen John Gronski, deputy commanding general for Army National Guard, USAREUR told the audience that the award's namesake, Vollrath, passed away earlier this month.
"This award was started with Vollrath speaking at the first ceremony seven years ago," Gronski said. "He truly paid a great service to this nation."
Commands nominate Soldier and civilian human resource experts and then a panel of senior military and civilian human resources professionals vote on the winners.
This year's winners are:
Officer of the Year: 1st Lt. Catherine Steele, 21st TSC, S-1 officer-in-charge.
Warrant Officer of the Year: Chief Warrant Officer 2 Alexander Pinckney, 21st TSC, human resources technician.
Non-Commissioned Officer of the Year: Sgt. Brandon Lee, HHC AF South Battalion, U.S. Army NATO Brigade, human resource non-commissioned officer.
Soldier of the Year: Sgt. Reemo Burch, Human Resources for Air Defense Artillery, HHD, 10th AAMDC, human resources sergeant.
Senior Civilian of the Year: Floyd Bouknight, USAREUR G1, principal civilian assistant.
Junior Civilian of the Year: Abner Davila, USAREUR G1 Staff Advisor, technical consultant and coordinator.
Burch, the Vollrath HR Award Soldier of the Year winner, said he is grateful to his command for recognizing his hard work and to his peers and Soldiers that helped support him.
"I just became a NCO this month and I plan to use this achievement to inspire my Soldiers to apply themselves to their goals," Burch said. "I honestly want to thank the Soldiers that help me throughout the day. When I go to the office it's for them, to show them that when you put forth the effort you can achieve whatever you want."
Burch also said his drive to go above beyond and determination to accomplish any task is what helped set him apart from all the other competitors.
About us: U.S. Army Europe is uniquely positioned in its 51 country area of responsibility to advance American strategic interests in Europe and Eurasia. The relationships we build during more than 1,000 theater security cooperation events in more than 40 countries each year lead directly to support for multinational contingency operations around the world, strengthen regional partnerships and enhance global security.
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