 |
| Specialist Anthony Garay, 171st Aviation Group and Staff Sgt. Donne Cook, Detachment No. 2, Company B, 935th Direct Aviation Support Battalion, kid each other about their performance after completing a six-mile road march during the regional Soldier and NCO of the Year competition at Fort Gordon. (Georgia National Guard photo by Staff Sgt. Roy Henry) |
By Staff Sgt. Roy Henry
Georgia National Guard
Public Affairs Office
FORT GORDON, Ga. – Georgia’s Spc. Anthony Garay and Staff Sgt. Donne Cook will always be winners to Georgia Army Guard officials, even though they will not go on to the next round of Soldier and Noncomissioned Officer of the Year competition. Two Soldiers from Georgia's sister states, Tennessee and Florida, will go one to represent the Southeast region in the national competition.
They agreed it would have been great to have gone on to find out who is the best Soldier and NCO in nation. At the same time, those chosen to that certainly deserve the honor they’ve earned.
Garay, who lives in Dalton, is an aviation operations specialist with the 171st Aviation Group’s Headquarters Company at Marietta’s Dobbins Air Reserve Base. Cook, who lives in Savannah, is the administrative NCO for Detachment No. 2, Company B, 935th Direct Aviation Support Battalion. The detachment, a CH-47 Chinook helicopter outfit, is based at Savannah’s Hunter Army Air Field.
They were two of 16 Soldiers from Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Kentucky, North and South Carolina, Tennessee and Puerto Rico to spend three long, grueling days finding out just who would be the Region 8 Soldier and NCO of the Year.
“I have to say that, while competition at the state level was tough, it was even tougher here,” Cook said. “There was no one, and I mean no one, who didn’t push themselves beyond what they believed they were capable of doing.
“Everybody wanted to be here, and everyone wanted to win,” he added. “And the Soldiers who won, they proved they have what it takes to make it…as competitors and as leaders.”
Garay continued that sentiment, saying he’s quite proud to have been among some of the best Soldiers he’s ever known.
“I mean, these people really showed they have what it takes to be winners, to do what it takes, and go beyond that to be successful,” he explained. “Not everyone has that kind of drive, but we didn’t see that here.”
And yet, it wasn’t just the competitive spirit that was present, Cooked continued. There was also an atmosphere of team work and camaraderie.
Often times, he said, people –no matter who they are– have only one thing on their minds; winning no matter what it takes. That sentiment never reared its ugly head.
“Every time you turned around, Soldier was helping Soldier. The desire to win was there. It never left any of us,” Cook said. “But it didn’t keep any of us from remembering who we are and that we work better as a team.
“You saw it time and again, throughout the competition,” Garay added. “And every time you saw it, it made you that much prouder of being a Soldier. It certainly did me.”
Although Cook and Garay agreed that they enjoyed competing for NCO and Soldier of the Year, this would be the last time for them.
Cook said such events are for the younger Soldier…moving from a six-mile road march directly into weapons qualification and then straight into doing the required warrior tasks proved that to him.
“I leave myself open to mentoring any Soldier who wants to compete, but I’ve seen my last competition,” he said.
Garay said he’s moving to concentrate more on his goal of leaving the enlisted ranks and becoming an officer.
“I’ve got a lot to get accomplished before that happens, but I’ve proven to myself that I’m ready to make that move,” he said.
And for Cook…well, he too plans to shed his stripes and replace them with officer’s rank.
| News Home | GADOD Home |