Sgt. 1st Class Phillip Eugene –
FORT KNOX, KY. - Maj. David Porter and Staff Sgt. Jadrian Whitfield won the 80th Training Command Instructor of the Year competition in the officer and enlisted categories, respectively, at Fort Knox, Ky., Nov. 7, 2015.
Porter represented the 102nd Training Division, and Whitfield the 100th TD during the annual event, which is meant to identify and recognize the command's best instructors.
“This tells us that you have a higher standard,” Maj. Gen. A.C. Roper, commander 80th TC, said to the competitors during an award ceremony where he honored the winners. “You don’t just want to be one of the good instructors, you’re striving to be the best.”
Whitfield said, she was shocked to have been named the winner because of the high level of competition and the number of highly qualified instructors who competed.
“It was some heavy competition,” said Whitfield, a human intelligence collector instructor who beat out 16 competitors to win the event. “I’m very excited to have won, and excited to move on to the next level.”
Porter, who teaches Joint Doctrine and Army Doctrine as part of the Command General Staff Officer Course, said, being evaluated is a different experience versus making sure that students learn.
“We have a craft as instructors, and there are a lot of diligent Soldiers across this training command who want to improve the Army and make it excel,” he said. “This event shows how well we’re doing that.”
Sgt. 1st Class Raymundo Soto, the 2014 80th TC IOY winner, who earlier this year went on to win the competition at the Army Reserve level and the Army Training Doctrine Command level in the Reserve category, joined Command Sgt. Maj. Jeffrey Darlington, the 80th TC senior noncommissioned officer, and three other sergeants major from across the 80th TC as judges. They evaluated the competitors’ communication skills, technical and tactical knowledge, appearance, and military bearing. The judges also checked for application of the Army Learning Model based on the U.S. Army Learning Concept for 2015 in accordance with TRADOC Pamphlet 525-8-2.
“That was a graded part of the criteria on our score sheet,” Darlington said. “We’re looking to ensure that the model is being executed out in the formation.”
The concept is the Army’s visualization of how to train and educate Soldiers and leaders in individual knowledge, skills, attributes, and abilities to execute full-spectrum operations in an era of persistent conflict.
Porter and Whitfield will now represent the 80th at the U.S. Army Reserve Command level. The winners of the USARC event will move on to compete at the TRADOC level.