By Brian Hill, Fort Leonard Wood Public Affairs Office
FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. — Maneuver Support Center of Excellence leaders recognized the center’s fiscal year 2022 military and civilian instructors of the year during an awards ceremony June 21 in Lincoln Hall Auditorium.
Brig. Gen. Sarah Albrycht, U.S. Army Military Police School commandant, presented the awards alongside MSCoE and Fort Leonard Wood Command Sgt. Maj. Jorge Arzabala.
Albrycht thanked the command teams, family and friends in attendance for helping in “recognizing these outstanding individuals.”
“I want to say a special thanks to our family members because, like I was just saying to our instructors, it takes a lot of time to do what they do,” Albrycht said. “They don’t just invest the classroom hours; they invest a lot of their personal time to guide and lead…so, to our family members out there — our awardees rely on you, and so, we just want to pass on our thanks to you for supporting them.”
Albrycht noted Fort Leonard Wood trains an average of about 76,000 service members and civilians each year, through more than 200 courses across multiple disciplines, “to instill values, skills, character and confidence.”
“We develop leaders and drive change across the Army,” Albrycht said. “The only way we get after this diverse mission set is with the expertise, leadership and care of our instructors. And the instructors we recognize today have distinguished themselves by going above and beyond to provide the very best training and support to their students. They set the example within their organizations by serving, not only as subject matter experts within their fields, but using their knowledge and expertise to shape the leaders of our Army.”
The awards were divided into four categories — officer, warrant officer, NCO and civilian — with 13 total winners this year.
In the officer category, the winners included Capt. Christopher Heyward, with the USAMPS; Capt. Aleksandrs Schuler, with the U.S. Army Engineer School; and Capt. Ashley Sperry, with the U.S. Army Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear School. Heyward and Sperry were unable to attend the ceremony.
In the warrant officer category, the winners included Chief Warrant Officer 3 Jesse Zbinden-Brassard, with the USAMPS, who also won U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command Instructor of the Year; and Chief Warrant Officer 2 Jeremy Montgomery, with the USAES.
In the NCO category, the winners included Sgt. 1st Class Tucker Powers, with the MSCoE NCO Academy; Staff Sgt. Cory Gent, with the USAES; Marine Staff Sgt. Willy Rodriguez, with the Marine Corps Detachment’s Engineer Equipment Instruction Company; Staff Sgt. Danielle Rucker, with the USACBRNS; and Staff Sgt. Angela Rutherford, with the USAMPS. Gent was unable to attend the ceremony.
In the civilian category, the winners included Mark Bruce, with the USAES; Scott Henshaw, with the USAMPS; and Richard Vengels, with the USACBRNS.
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About Fort Leonard Wood
Fort Leonard Wood is a thriving and prosperous installation that has evolved from a small basic training post 80 years ago to a premier Army Center of Excellence that trains nearly 80,000 military and civilians each year.
Fort Leonard Wood is home to the U.S Army Maneuver Support Center of Excellence and three U.S. Army schools: the U.S. Army Engineer School; U.S. Army Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear School; and the U.S. Army Military Police School. In addition to training engineer, CBRN and military police specialties for the Army, Fort Leonard Wood also provides gender-integrated in-processing and Basic Combat Training for new Soldiers.
Fort Leonard Wood also hosts and trains with the largest Marine Corps Detachment and Air Force Squadron on any Army installation as well as a large Navy construction detachment.
More information about Fort Leonard Wood is at: https://home.army.mil/wood/index.php/about/mission