Fort Belvoir, Va. – Nine career counselors representing units within the U.S. Army Military District of Washington (MDW) and the U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM) participated in the MDW’s Fiscal Year 2024 Career Counselor of the Year Competition hosted by INSCOM at its headquarters on Fort Belvoir, Jan. 17-18, 2024.
In contrast to last year’s event, INSCOM and MDW held a joint competition to provide MDW Soldiers another opportunity to compete ahead of the Secretary of the Army competition later this year.
During the event, competitors were assessed and graded on their performance on the Army Combat Fitness test, written exams and board interviews. In addition, competitors were required to establish retention missions from Headquarters, Department of the Army, and assessed on their ability to break down and implement retention strategies into subordinate units. This provided career counselors an opportunity to work through the Army’s retention mission from the top down.
Staff Sgt. Stephen C. Hughes, garrison career counselor, Fort George G. Meade, Maryland, won this year’s competition and received the Army Commendation Medal from Maj. Gen. Timothy D. Brown, INSCOM commanding general. Hughes will move on to the Secretary of the Army's Career Counselor of the Year Competition.
“Embracing the challenge of difficult tasks holds value, and the opportunity to refine my skills and knowledge has been rewarding," said Hughes. "I am thrilled and motivated to represent the Military District of Washington at the highest level, and I am committed to delivering my best performance.”
MDW Command Sgt. Maj. Veronica E. Knapp thanked the competitors and stressed how critical the Army’s career counselors are to the total Army mission.
“Coming together with INSCOM and MDW collectively to do this competition was a great initiative,” said Knapp, who served as the president of the board. "Not only did we get more competitors, but we were also able to assess how they interacted and communicated with each other as well as the subordinate units.”
INSCOM's Sgt. 1st Class Kevin K. Guthrie, 501st Military Intelligence Brigade, Camp Humphreys, South Korea, placed second in the competition.
Sgt. Maj. Raymond L. Howard, INSCOM's command career counselor, congratulated the competitors and Guthrie on his performance, and noted the significance of the competition, as it supports the Army’s priority of retaining high-quality Soldiers.
“The Army career counselor is the ‘honest broker’ matching Soldier’s needs, wants and desires with the needs of our Army,” said Howard. “The career counselor’s job supports all of the Army chief of staff’s focus areas of warfighting, continuous transformation, delivering ready combat formations and strengthening the profession.”
The Secretary of the Army Career Counselor of the Year Competition will take place in March 2024.
INSCOM executes mission command of operational intelligence and security forces; conducts and synchronizes worldwide multidiscipline and all-source intelligence and security operations; and delivers linguist support and intelligence-related advanced skills training, acquisition support, logistics, communications, and other specialized capabilities in support of Army, Joint, Coalition Commands, and the Intelligence Community.
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