Photo By Staff Sgt. Erik Warren | Col. Cameron Cantlon the 3d Cavalry Regiment commanding officer addresses awardees of...... read more read more
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FORT HOOD, Texas – The "Brave Rifles" held a monumental awards ceremony May 21, recognizing 3rd Cavalry Troopers and units who have impacted the Army at the highest levels during a ceremony at Veterans Field on Fort Hood. The 1st Cavalry Division commander, Maj. Gen. Michael Bills, presented the awards to the recipients.
Three different unit awards were given to outstanding companies, and troops who displayed superior achievements in the past year. The Dillard award, the Itschner Award, and the Draper Award.
The Dillard Award was presented to the 66th Military Intelligence Company by the award’s name sake, Maj. Gen. Oliver W. Dillard’s daughter, Diane Broadnax along with Maj. Gen. Bills. The award is given to best MI Company in the U.S. Army and was selected by the United States Army Forces Command. Mrs. Broadnax traveled from her home in Maryland to present the award.
“My dad would have loved to be here,” said Broadnax about her 88-year-old father. “I’ll have a grin for the rest of the day, it was such an honor to be able to do this for dad” commented Broadnax. Accepting the award was 66th MICO company commander, Capt. Eric Russell.
The Itscher Award was given to the 43rd Combat Engineer Company. The 43rd CEC was nominated by III Corps for the active-army component of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for being this years “most outstanding engineer company in each Army component” according to the Army Awards Program.
The last unit award presented was the Draper Award given to Killer Troop, 4th Squadron “Longknife,” 3rd Cav. Regt. The award was established by Lt. Col. Wickliffe P. Draper in 1924 as a way to competitively test the leadership of small cavalry units. The award is governed by the office of the Chief of Armor and is granted annually to the best troop or company in a unit with cavalry or armor Soldiers. Accepting the award was the Killer Troop company commander, Capt. David Stewart.
Maj. Gen. Bills, Col. Cameron Cantlon, the 3d Cav. Regt. commander, and Command Sgt. Maj. Roger Heinze, the 3d Cav Regt. command sergeant major presented the “Maj. Gen. Aubrey “Red” Newman certificates and medallions” to 17 troopers in the Regiment. These troopers were selected for demonstrating excellence in mentoring and counseling.
“These are the future leaders of our squadrons, brigades and our Army,” said Cantlon during his speech.
“I think my sergeant major nominated me for this,” said Sgt. 1st Class Jason Walker, “It makes me feel really proud to represent the unit in this way.”
Army Commendation Awards were given to the 3rd Cav’s Best Ranger Team, Capt Roy Glasgow and 1st Lt Michael Matthaeus. The Best Ranger Competition was held in Fort Benning last April and the 3d Cav’s Team finished in the top half of all the teams competing in the Army.
Certificates of Achievements were given to the “Gainey Cup” competitors from Longknife Squadron. The Gainey Cup is an annual cavalry scout competition held on Fort Benning.
First Lt. Daniel Moriarty said “The competition benefited us as well as the whole squadron. We took skills we learned from training and competing for the cup and brought them back to our unit.”
“The Regiment has been busy with simultaneous deployments around the planet and they will stay busy as the year goes on,” said Cantlon - even while serving in Afghanistan and Egypt the Best Ranger and Gainey Cup competitors trained for their events and excelled in their respective competitions.
| Date Taken: | 05.21.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 05.22.2015 15:56 |
| Story ID: | 164324 |
| Location: | FORT HOOD, TEXAS, US |
| Web Views: | 203 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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