USASOC Selects Ravid as AG Soldier of the Year

Army Spc. Seth Ravid, a 24-year-old Winter Haven, Florida. native, and human resources specialist in 4th battalion, 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne) competed and won the U.S. Special Operations Command (USASOC) level Adjutant General (AG) Corps Soldier of the Year competition held on Fort Bragg, North Carolina. on Dec. 8, 2016.

For his achievements, Sgt. Maj. William Barr, the G1 sergeants sajor of USASOC, made the journey from Bragg to Eglin Air Force base to formally present Ravid with an Army Commendation Medal on behalf of USASOC on Jan. 27, 2017, at the roup headquarters auditorium for his achievements in a USASOC competition.

Ravid competed against 10 Soldiers in the USASOC AG Soldier of the year competition which tested Soldiers and non-commissioned officers (NCOs) human resources knowledge, physical fitness and scenario-based challenges.

"USASOC has held the competition for the last 10 years," said Barr. "The AG Corps has conducted the Army level competition, and we have been lockstep in holding ours [USASOC] because we have high-quality NCOs and Soldiers that we are confident will succeed at the Army Level."

"The competition has evolved from when I competed and now," said Barr. "Just sitting through a board answering questions is not challenging enough anymore. I think that we need to continue to be innovative in the way that we do these competitions so we actually can extract the best of the best."

Ravid added that his NCO in charge urged him to compete. She told him that he would do well in the competition and wanted him to participate; it was the confidence that she had in him that inspired him to compete and ultimately win.

"I had great support from my chain of command who helped me with my requirements by writing letters of recommendations and other things needed for my packet."

Ravid is slated to participate in the Army level competition at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, in June 2017.

Ravid has already started preparing for the next phase. "I'm a details oriented type of Soldier," he said. "I have started my research on what it takes to succeed at that level [Department of the Army] I'm going to stay fit and ready to compete."