WAYNE F. WILLIAMS
While on tour of duty in Vietnam, I won the prestigious
award of "Soldier of the Month". To say the least, it was
one of the toughest places in the world to be recognized
for military contributions. This accomplishment
happened simultaneously in the midst of being
preoccupied with helping resolve a military conflict.
However, selection for participating in the running for
this award may have come by way of name recognition
and credibility towards becoming a future leader. As a
matter of fact, I won numerous stateside local
competition awards before my deployment overseas
along with those officers and local competitive
evaluation judges. Therefore, I felt comfortable putting
my name in to go before the review board despite the
hostile environment. Qualifications of the review board
include, but are not limited to: exceptional job
performance, understanding of their section, team,
company's mission (and higher: battalion, brigade, Army
if necessary), impeccable uniform and presence,
attitude, technical and tactical competency leadership
qualities, and knowledge of current events and how
those events impacted our unit or Nation. In the end,
this experience can never be duplicated nor taken for
granted. We all owe our gratitude to those brave men
and women who set the bar for excellence, regardless
of the obstacles in front of them.
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