Wisconsin National Guard names Soldier, NCO of Year

By Spc. Eric Liesse

112th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment

FORT McCOY, Wis. - After a grueling three-day competition, the Wisconsin Army National Guard announced its 2012 State Soldier and Noncommissioned Officer of the Year Sunday (April 22). Both Soldiers now advance to next month's Region 4 Soldier and NCO of the Year competition at Camp Grayling, Mich.

Sgt. Jeremy Smith, a Watertown, Wis., native with the Madison-based 54th Civil Support Team, beat out five fellow Soldiers to be named the State Soldier of the Year. Sgt. Darren Habermehl, a Muskego, Wis., native from Troop C, 1st Battalion, 105th Cavalry Regiment out of Reedsburg, Wis., won over seven other NCOs to take the State NCO of the Year title.

"It's been quite a competitive weekend, for sure," Smith said soon after winning the Minute Man statue. "A lot of the competitors are very good at what they do."

"I'm not going to lie - everybody wants to win, and I probably have a competitive streak as big or bigger than most," Habermehl said. "I was really hoping that my scores... would put me on the top. And thankfully, it fell in my favor this time."

The state-level Soldier of the Year competition is usually headed by State Command Sgt. Maj. George Stopper, Wisconsin National Guard's senior enlisted leader. However, this year he was part of a Wisconsin National Guard delegation visiting troops in Kosovo, so the competition was directed by Command Sgt. Maj. Ralph Rosemore, the state Recruiting and Retention sergeant major.

"Command Sgt. Maj. Stopper has a favorite saying that he uses every year," said Staff Sgt. Jason Walters, the competition's administrative NCO and chief scorekeeper. "He says if you see him or any other [sergeant major] walking around with a big grin on their face, it's not because they enjoy watching you suffer. It's because they enjoy watching the top 10 percent that the Wisconsin National Guard has to offer."

Though Smith and Habermehl will advance to the regionals, they were not far ahead of their fellow competitors.

"This year, like every year, [the scores were] very tight," Walters said. "It always comes down to the last few events. Sometimes, halfway though, you have one or two people jump ahead of the rest. But once everyone gets that working rhythm and that initial adrenalin wears out, it's just a matter of endurance after that."

"I think it's been fairly close," Smith said. "We were going over bonus points earlier with some of the other people trying to figure out who might be up. There's still some things that you don't know when they read the names. It was a great feeling. It's definitely a great experience and something I'm never going to forget."

The competition started late Thursday night at the Wisconsin Army National Guard's Wisconsin Military Academy, with Rosemore briefing Soldiers and NCOs on scores, expectations and support.

Competitors endured a grueling gauntlet of events: physical fitness test, a combatives tournament, a virtual firing range programmed with "shoot-don't shoot" scenarios, life-fire pistol and rifle ranges, day and night land navigation courses, a written exam, combat water survival assessment, Soldier skill proficiency demonstrations, a confidence and obstacle course, a formal appearance board before senior noncommissioned officers, and a 9-mile road march.

Habermehl and Smith finished first in the combatives tournament in the NCO and Soldier categories, respectively. Habermehl was the first to finish the road march with a time of 1:44:57, and Smith was tied for second with a time of 1:47:13.

"[I] did some marching and some training for that definitely, 'cause that's not something you just want to pick up and do," Smith said about the road march. "I started to dabble with the whole cross-fit thing - who knows if that is going to pay off."

Now that this weekend's events are over, Habermehl and Smith are already looking to the next level - the regional competition in Michigan.

"I'm not sure what's in store for the Regionals," Smith said, "but hopefully they give us a heads up on some of the events or at least what we should be expecting. "

Smith was confident in his training thus far. "Maybe see I can get my hands on an obstacle course somewhere," he said, "but pretty much just keep up with what I have been doing."

"There will be some definite adjustments to the training," Habermehl said of his preparation for next month. "[I'll put] much longer ruck marches in. My guess is they'll probably throw it up to... that Army-standard, 12-mile ruck march. I'm going to try to get some more time on the range, something that I definitely need to improve on."

As the weekend closes and the 13 remaining competitors head home, both Soldiers realized their time for extra preparation is short.

"We actually were just talking about trying to coordinate our efforts both at our level and at the unit level to make sure that we maximize the little bit of time that we have before the regional," Habermehl said.