WEBVTT 00:00.240 --> 00:02.420 great . Hey , I'm here with steve 00:02.430 --> 00:04.960 fiddle from the Deseret News also . And 00:04.960 --> 00:07.840 again , I'm Jet Bowl with KSL Tv . Um , 00:07.840 --> 00:09.951 I also just had a chance to look back 00:09.951 --> 00:11.951 at the story that our colleague Sam 00:11.951 --> 00:14.062 Penrod did with you a couple of years 00:14.062 --> 00:16.173 ago when you had one , I guess one of 00:16.173 --> 00:18.284 the preliminary competitions first of 00:18.284 --> 00:21.220 all , tell us what was uh , how did you 00:21.220 --> 00:23.053 feel after you came through this 00:23.053 --> 00:25.053 competition ? Certainly . It's very 00:25.053 --> 00:27.740 grueling . What does it entail ? Yeah , 00:28.580 --> 00:30.990 that's a great question . The best way 00:30.990 --> 00:33.970 your competition consists of tests , 00:33.980 --> 00:36.360 the test you physically and mentally 00:36.940 --> 00:39.490 wait pretty much the best for your 00:39.490 --> 00:42.480 competition test who is the most well 00:42.480 --> 00:45.520 rounded soldier ? They don't test just 00:45.520 --> 00:48.070 to see who's the best shot or who's the 00:48.070 --> 00:50.440 strongest or who's the smartest they 00:50.440 --> 00:52.730 test . Who's the most well rounded 00:52.730 --> 00:55.900 soldier . And so what the competition 00:55.900 --> 00:58.011 consisted of is a series of different 00:58.011 --> 01:01.550 evaluations and tasks , um , ranging 01:01.550 --> 01:03.520 from first Aid to weapons 01:03.520 --> 01:06.160 qualifications to physical fitness , 01:06.540 --> 01:08.950 two written essays 01:10.040 --> 01:12.520 and all sorts of other situational 01:12.520 --> 01:15.910 tests , such as evaluating a 01:15.920 --> 01:19.760 casualty or I'm searching a detainee 01:20.240 --> 01:23.680 how to react to contact and 01:23.940 --> 01:25.940 like I said , it's a competition to 01:25.940 --> 01:28.107 test how well rounded of a soldier you 01:28.107 --> 01:31.920 are . Yeah . Mm . You must really enjoy 01:31.920 --> 01:35.140 this kind of competition to uh , strive 01:35.140 --> 01:37.473 at it until you're the best of the best . 01:37.473 --> 01:40.910 What do you get out of it ? Oh , that's 01:40.910 --> 01:43.077 the best part of these competitions is 01:43.077 --> 01:45.188 what I get out of it . The experience 01:45.188 --> 01:48.170 is priceless . It really is . I 01:48.170 --> 01:50.003 actually live for the experience 01:50.003 --> 01:52.170 because you come to these competitions 01:52.170 --> 01:54.170 and you associate with with so many 01:54.170 --> 01:56.240 great individuals . Um like we know 01:56.240 --> 01:58.018 they call this the best warrior 01:58.018 --> 01:59.962 competition and they send the best 01:59.962 --> 02:02.184 warriors to this competition . And just 02:02.184 --> 02:04.240 to associate with those warriors and 02:04.240 --> 02:06.296 learn from them and run side to side 02:06.296 --> 02:09.030 with them and go through some tasks 02:09.030 --> 02:12.400 with them . It's just an amazing 02:12.400 --> 02:15.260 experience and one can learn so much 02:15.740 --> 02:18.160 and improve themselves so that they can 02:18.160 --> 02:20.216 become a better soldier . And that's 02:20.216 --> 02:22.327 what I love about this competition is 02:22.327 --> 02:23.993 the self development and self 02:23.993 --> 02:26.160 improvement through this competition . 02:26.160 --> 02:28.271 And so yeah , every soldier that come 02:28.271 --> 02:30.438 to these competitions , they walk away 02:30.438 --> 02:32.438 a better soldier and they take that 02:32.438 --> 02:32.320 experience back to their units and they 02:32.320 --> 02:34.431 help all their soldiers back at their 02:34.431 --> 02:36.960 home units become better soldiers . So 02:37.340 --> 02:39.562 the best word competition is an amazing 02:39.562 --> 02:41.784 experience and you take that experience 02:41.784 --> 02:43.784 back to your units and it's fun . I 02:43.784 --> 02:45.896 love it . What does it mean to you to 02:45.896 --> 02:48.007 be the best of the best among those ? 02:49.940 --> 02:52.162 Well honestly , I've said it before , I 02:52.162 --> 02:54.051 honestly don't think I'm the best 02:54.051 --> 02:56.051 soldier in the entire army . That's 02:56.051 --> 02:58.218 hard to say that I do know that I came 02:58.218 --> 03:00.329 to this competition . It's called the 03:00.329 --> 03:02.384 best for your competition and I came 03:02.384 --> 03:04.910 out on top . But I think I came and I 03:04.910 --> 03:07.980 had an amazing experience and I 03:07.980 --> 03:10.036 competed with the best and I'm among 03:10.036 --> 03:12.650 the best and I'm just proud for that 03:12.650 --> 03:14.706 experience . I wouldn't say that I'm 03:14.706 --> 03:16.817 the best soldier . Honestly , I would 03:16.817 --> 03:19.039 say the best warriors are the ones that 03:19.039 --> 03:21.039 are over there overseas . I've said 03:21.039 --> 03:23.039 this before , but we really have to 03:23.039 --> 03:22.740 give them the credit for being the best 03:22.740 --> 03:24.740 warriors because they're over there 03:24.740 --> 03:26.573 doing their duty , doing what we 03:26.573 --> 03:28.351 trained to do in protecting our 03:28.351 --> 03:30.518 families and protecting the home front 03:30.518 --> 03:33.300 here . Uh two part question here , have 03:33.300 --> 03:35.780 you ever deployed and within the 03:35.780 --> 03:37.891 competition ? What's your specialty ? 03:39.640 --> 03:42.390 Great questions . First part , No , I 03:42.390 --> 03:45.630 have not been deployed , but I am 03:45.630 --> 03:47.852 grateful for the experience that I have 03:47.852 --> 03:50.074 to train and prepare to deploy and I am 03:50.074 --> 03:52.900 ready to deploy once I'm called . And 03:52.900 --> 03:54.900 could you repeat the second part of 03:54.900 --> 03:58.070 that question ? Mhm . Uh yeah , your 03:58.070 --> 04:00.237 best , your best specialty . They sent 04:00.237 --> 04:02.237 us some video of different kinds of 04:02.237 --> 04:04.348 competitions , some of it was working 04:04.348 --> 04:06.570 with night flares , some of it was hand 04:06.570 --> 04:09.270 to hand combat . Um uh It appeared 04:09.270 --> 04:11.326 there was another one where you were 04:11.326 --> 04:13.770 cleaning a handgun . Um what's what's 04:13.770 --> 04:15.992 your real forte ? What's your specialty 04:15.992 --> 04:17.103 among all of them ? 04:19.940 --> 04:23.880 That's a good question . I know I'm 04:23.890 --> 04:26.790 really good at the physical stuff . So 04:26.800 --> 04:28.633 the push ups , the sit ups , the 04:28.633 --> 04:30.633 running , the rock , marching , the 04:30.633 --> 04:34.270 fighting , combative . And so I would 04:34.270 --> 04:36.680 say that's my forte , just the physical 04:36.680 --> 04:39.850 event . But like I said , this is the 04:39.850 --> 04:41.961 best way of competition and it's gone 04:41.961 --> 04:44.072 on for a really long time . I've been 04:44.072 --> 04:46.239 training for about a year doing this . 04:46.239 --> 04:49.980 Um , and so I've been able to improve 04:49.980 --> 04:53.580 myself and improve my weaknesses that 04:53.580 --> 04:56.420 I've had in the past . And so I've been 04:56.420 --> 04:58.364 able to prepare really for all the 04:58.364 --> 05:00.531 events and I thought that I did really 05:00.531 --> 05:02.642 well at all the events . But if I had 05:02.642 --> 05:05.570 to say my , my the best part would be 05:05.570 --> 05:07.737 the physical part of the competition . 05:09.640 --> 05:11.529 And this is steve fiddle from the 05:11.529 --> 05:13.529 desert news joining jet on the line 05:13.529 --> 05:15.696 here in relation to what you were just 05:15.696 --> 05:17.918 saying , preparing for a year . What is 05:17.918 --> 05:17.590 the relationship between this 05:17.590 --> 05:19.812 competition and the one that we did the 05:19.812 --> 05:22.260 story on you before that Sam Penrod did . 05:25.340 --> 05:27.930 um , the difference is the one back in 05:27.930 --> 05:31.620 2009 that I did was the National guard 05:31.620 --> 05:34.750 competition . And to give you a little 05:34.750 --> 05:36.806 history . I did this competition two 05:36.806 --> 05:39.580 years ago and then I returned to do it 05:39.580 --> 05:42.460 this year , there's a major difference . 05:42.460 --> 05:44.990 So the first time I did the competition , 05:44.990 --> 05:48.010 I was competing as a soldier , which is 05:48.010 --> 05:50.130 a lower enlisted soldier , it's the 05:50.140 --> 05:52.251 private through specialist category . 05:53.740 --> 05:55.518 And this year I came back and I 05:55.518 --> 05:57.796 competed as a non commissioned officer , 05:58.340 --> 06:00.460 That is a sergeant through Sergeant , 06:00.460 --> 06:04.350 1st class . And so when I did it two 06:04.350 --> 06:07.230 years ago in 2009 , I competed as a 06:07.230 --> 06:09.341 soldier and I ended up winning at the 06:09.341 --> 06:11.810 National Guard level , but then I went 06:11.810 --> 06:13.977 on to compete at the Department of the 06:13.977 --> 06:16.220 Army , this competition and I I didn't 06:16.220 --> 06:19.210 end up winning that year but I came 06:19.210 --> 06:21.930 back this time a second time and I was 06:21.930 --> 06:23.986 able to come home with the wind . So 06:23.986 --> 06:26.041 that's that's the difference between 06:26.041 --> 06:28.460 the two competitions . Sorry you at the 06:28.460 --> 06:30.404 top of the mountain now or there's 06:30.404 --> 06:32.627 still other things outside of your your 06:32.627 --> 06:34.849 mos your army responsibilities that you 06:34.849 --> 06:36.738 would be involved in or likely be 06:36.738 --> 06:39.730 involved in in the competition . No , 06:39.730 --> 06:41.952 this is the last competition . It's the 06:41.952 --> 06:44.008 Department of the Army competition . 06:44.008 --> 06:46.063 It's the top of the top . That's the 06:46.063 --> 06:48.174 very last event that we actually do . 06:48.740 --> 06:51.500 And so there's no more competitions 06:51.500 --> 06:55.450 after this . But I've been grateful 06:55.450 --> 06:57.506 for the opportunity that I've had to 06:57.506 --> 06:59.390 compete and yeah there's no more 06:59.390 --> 07:01.501 competition . I'm just gonna drive on 07:01.501 --> 07:03.390 and enjoy this experience because 07:03.390 --> 07:05.612 throughout this next year I'll be , the 07:05.612 --> 07:07.057 Department of the army is 07:07.057 --> 07:09.223 representative as the non commissioned 07:09.223 --> 07:08.540 officer of the year . So I'll enjoy 07:08.540 --> 07:11.180 this experience and then once I'm done 07:11.180 --> 07:13.236 with this I'll move on to bigger and 07:13.236 --> 07:15.690 better things . Okay so will you have 07:15.690 --> 07:17.301 seen either opportunities or 07:17.301 --> 07:19.634 responsibilities as you represent D . O . 07:19.634 --> 07:21.912 D . As their ah as their top N . C . O . 07:23.840 --> 07:26.110 Yes I will have opportunities to go to 07:26.110 --> 07:28.221 a different conferences and different 07:28.221 --> 07:30.710 seminars and I guess give speeches and 07:30.710 --> 07:32.880 certain things like that . But most of 07:32.880 --> 07:34.880 all I'll be an example to the other 07:34.880 --> 07:36.880 soldiers of what a good N . C . O . 07:36.880 --> 07:38.713 Should be And I'm humbled by the 07:38.713 --> 07:40.602 experience . I truly am . But I'm 07:40.602 --> 07:42.713 excited about it also and excited see 07:42.713 --> 07:44.547 if I can help my fellow soldiers 07:44.547 --> 07:46.547 because I'm proud to be a member of 07:46.547 --> 07:48.713 this , the armed forces and the army , 07:48.713 --> 07:50.769 the greatest army in the world . And 07:50.769 --> 07:54.000 I'm excited about the experience now . 07:54.000 --> 07:56.056 Just to make sure we're up to date . 07:56.056 --> 07:58.111 Are you still affiliated in with the 07:58.111 --> 08:00.056 National Guard or ? Um is has that 08:00.056 --> 08:02.750 changed ? No , I'm still a member of 08:02.750 --> 08:04.694 the National Guard . It's just the 08:04.694 --> 08:06.917 active duty is going to use me for more 08:06.917 --> 08:09.139 events and certain things whatever they 08:09.139 --> 08:11.194 want to use me for . But I'm still a 08:11.194 --> 08:13.139 member of the National Guard . I'm 08:13.139 --> 08:12.820 still contracted to them And yeah , 08:12.820 --> 08:14.709 that's my affiliation is with the 08:14.709 --> 08:16.876 national . Okay . Ah sometimes it gets 08:16.876 --> 08:18.987 a little ah muddied up . Want to make 08:18.987 --> 08:21.153 sure we had it straight . Are you ah , 08:21.153 --> 08:23.320 are you assigned with a Utah Utah unit 08:23.320 --> 08:25.950 then ? Yes , that is correct . I'm with 08:25.960 --> 08:27.960 bravo battery first . No . One 45th 08:27.960 --> 08:30.182 Field Artillery . It's actually located 08:30.182 --> 08:32.380 in Manti Utah . But yeah , that's my 08:32.380 --> 08:35.520 home home station . Excellent . Hey , 08:35.520 --> 08:37.520 thanks so much for taking some time 08:37.520 --> 08:39.631 with us . Jets . Got to follow up for 08:39.631 --> 08:41.798 you . Just a second . Yeah , one quick 08:41.798 --> 08:43.798 question for you sergeant . Take us 08:43.798 --> 08:43.670 back into that competition . How long 08:43.670 --> 08:46.270 did it last did you get any sleep ? Um 08:46.280 --> 08:49.090 how , how tough is it physically and 08:49.090 --> 08:51.090 mentally to go through that kind of 08:51.090 --> 08:54.910 grueling challenge . That's a great 08:54.910 --> 08:57.132 question . It was , it was about a week 08:57.132 --> 08:59.299 long . We started on monday and monday 08:59.299 --> 09:01.410 we did a physical fitness test , woke 09:01.410 --> 09:03.410 up really early about woke up about 09:03.410 --> 09:05.577 four o'clock every morning . I woke up 09:05.577 --> 09:07.743 really early which is two o'clock Utah 09:07.743 --> 09:07.210 time . So it was hard getting to the 09:07.340 --> 09:09.530 hard getting used to the adjustment . 09:09.540 --> 09:11.373 Um but yeah , we took a physical 09:11.373 --> 09:13.600 fitness test which consists of a two 09:13.600 --> 09:15.656 mile run , two minutes of push ups , 09:15.656 --> 09:17.767 two minutes of setups . Then later on 09:17.767 --> 09:19.933 that day we took a written test and we 09:19.933 --> 09:22.100 had to write an essay to , to test how 09:22.100 --> 09:24.267 smart we are , not only how physically 09:24.267 --> 09:26.489 fit we are about how smart we are . And 09:26.489 --> 09:28.711 then the next day we had a formal board 09:28.711 --> 09:30.822 which is just like an interview for a 09:30.822 --> 09:32.989 job , but we had the sergeant major of 09:32.989 --> 09:35.100 the army which is the senior enlisted 09:35.100 --> 09:36.878 leader in the army , he was the 09:36.878 --> 09:39.044 president of the board . And so it was 09:39.044 --> 09:41.156 extremely nerve wracking to go before 09:41.156 --> 09:43.211 them and get asked questions and get 09:43.211 --> 09:45.360 ordered to do facing movements and uh 09:45.370 --> 09:47.960 present ourselves in a formal manner . 09:48.340 --> 09:50.507 So yeah , that was definitely a really 09:50.507 --> 09:52.618 stressful part . But I was on Tuesday 09:52.618 --> 09:54.896 and then Wednesday thursday and friday . 09:54.896 --> 09:54.730 We went through a series of different 09:54.730 --> 09:57.720 drills which are called warrior tasks 09:57.720 --> 10:00.070 or battle drills and that's what I was 10:00.070 --> 10:02.930 explaining about like doing the first 10:02.930 --> 10:05.041 aid station where you have to apply a 10:05.041 --> 10:07.097 tourniquet or well where you have to 10:07.097 --> 10:09.041 help a casualty that's bleeding to 10:09.041 --> 10:10.986 death . And then we also did other 10:10.986 --> 10:12.874 things like react to contact , go 10:12.874 --> 10:14.930 through and clear buildings , how to 10:14.930 --> 10:17.097 react to somebody that's coming at you 10:17.097 --> 10:19.319 and getting ready to fight you . And we 10:19.319 --> 10:21.430 also did a combative tournament , but 10:21.430 --> 10:23.652 the last three days , the last 72 hours 10:23.652 --> 10:23.180 of the competition , we only got about 10:23.180 --> 10:25.124 six hours of sleep . So it made it 10:25.124 --> 10:27.013 really tough . It was tough on us 10:27.013 --> 10:29.236 because it tested how well we can react 10:29.236 --> 10:31.860 in , um , uh , under battlefield 10:31.860 --> 10:34.440 conditions with little sleep with not 10:34.440 --> 10:36.480 that much to eat and under a lot of 10:36.480 --> 10:38.870 stress and pressure . And so I love 10:38.870 --> 10:41.037 this competition . I think it was , it 10:41.037 --> 10:42.814 was a great measure of soldiers 10:42.814 --> 10:45.037 character and how well they can perform 10:45.037 --> 10:47.180 under combat conditions . One last , 10:47.190 --> 10:49.134 I'm gonna try to sneak in one last 10:49.134 --> 10:51.357 quick question if I can sergeant . Um , 10:51.357 --> 10:53.510 what what is it about growing up in 10:53.510 --> 10:56.950 tiny , uh , tiny fey at Utah that 10:56.950 --> 10:59.440 helped steer you towards being the best 10:59.440 --> 11:01.662 of the best . I mean coming from such a 11:01.662 --> 11:03.329 little town to win such a big 11:03.329 --> 11:06.940 competition . That's a great question . 11:06.940 --> 11:09.051 You know what , growing up in a small 11:09.051 --> 11:11.051 town such as fayette Utah helped me 11:11.051 --> 11:13.273 immensely . I grew up in a small town . 11:13.273 --> 11:15.440 I grew up on a farm and one thing that 11:15.440 --> 11:17.496 my dad taught me and growing up on a 11:17.496 --> 11:19.662 farm taught me is how to work hard and 11:19.662 --> 11:21.830 how to work for something . I learned 11:21.830 --> 11:23.997 how to farm and take care of something 11:23.997 --> 11:27.710 and make crops grow and that commitment , 11:27.710 --> 11:30.010 dedication and hard work and taught me 11:30.020 --> 11:33.320 how to , well , sorry . My dad taught 11:33.320 --> 11:35.431 me all those things and taught me how 11:35.431 --> 11:37.487 to do that on the farm and then that 11:37.487 --> 11:39.320 kind of transitioned over to the 11:39.320 --> 11:41.542 civilian world and then to the military 11:41.542 --> 11:43.750 world . And I think growing up in that 11:43.750 --> 11:45.861 small town of Utah and learning those 11:45.861 --> 11:47.750 principles that I learned help me 11:47.840 --> 11:50.062 throughout the army and throughout this 11:50.062 --> 11:52.229 competition , it's helped me , it will 11:52.229 --> 11:54.451 continue to help me throughout the rest 11:54.451 --> 11:53.890 of my life , but it helped me to work 11:53.890 --> 11:56.112 for something to work hard when it gets 11:56.112 --> 11:58.112 tough , keep going , keep pushing , 11:58.112 --> 12:00.223 keep giving it your best . And that's 12:00.223 --> 12:02.390 what I did in this competition . There 12:02.390 --> 12:01.800 were times when I thought that I wasn't 12:01.800 --> 12:04.022 gonna win or when I thought that things 12:04.022 --> 12:06.244 weren't just gonna turn out exactly the 12:06.244 --> 12:08.467 way I planned , but I kept going , kept 12:08.467 --> 12:10.578 pushing as hard as I could And in the 12:10.578 --> 12:12.840 end it all paid off . Sergeant , 12:12.840 --> 12:15.007 Congratulations and thanks so much for 12:15.007 --> 12:17.062 your service and uh , thanks so much 12:17.062 --> 12:19.396 for your time and your thoughts as well . 12:19.396 --> 12:21.284 If you want to pass it on to your 12:21.284 --> 12:23.451 friends and family and fayette , it'll 12:23.451 --> 12:25.618 be on KSL at 6 30 tonight our time and 12:25.618 --> 12:27.507 then steve's story will be in the 12:27.507 --> 12:29.673 deseret news sometime this afternoon . 12:31.440 --> 12:33.718 Okay , thank you very much . Take care , 12:33.718 --> 12:35.660 sergeant . Cool .