Photo By Staff Sgt. Athie Onyango | Col. Jerry Farnsworth, U.S. Army Central director of engineers, and Chief Warrant...... read more read more
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SHAW AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. -- Lockheed Martin Corporation hosted the 30th annual Black Engineer of the Year Award Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (BEYA STEM) conference in Philadelphia Feb. 18-20. The event honored individuals for their achievements and innovation in the vast field of engineering. Among the recipients for the Modern-Day Technology award was a member of the United States Army Central's Engineer team, Chief Warrant Officer 3 Weaver Prosper.
Prosper is from the Commonwealth of Dominica, a small island in the Caribbean, where he worked as a police officer prior to joining the Army in 1999. During a visit to St. Thomas (USVI) Prosper walked out of a fast food restaurant and into an Army recruiting office where he joined as a 51B, carpentry, and masonry specialist. That military occupational skill has since been realigned as a construction engineer supervisor. However, he explained, in the Army as an engineer a Soldier learns to become a jack of all trades, learning to do electrical, structural and even hydro.
His first duty assignment was Hawaii where he did a lot of construction and accelerated through the ranks quickly, earning the rank of staff sergeant promotable by the middle of his seventh year. At that point he decided he wanted to make some career changes. In 2007 he found himself with three offers laid out before him and he had to choose one, going to college through the Army's Green to Gold program, attend warrant officer candidate school or accept the rank of sergeant first class. All of which were notable career achievements. Prosper selected WOCS.
"I looked at all the warrant officers in my field and I admired them and what they brought. The job was very historic and it appealed to me how everyone always referenced the chief. There was always some form of respect. They were always held to a higher standard than everyone else," Prosper said as to why he decided to accept the opportunity to become a warrant officer.
In July 2008 Prosper redirected his career down the path of senior Army leadership. By Army definition, "Warrant officers make up the technical foundation of the U.S. Army. Throughout their careers, they specialize in a technical area and have a great job responsibility that includes training Soldiers, organizing and advising on missions."
As an engineer at USARCENT Prosper is the operational energy chief. His team's products and initiatives with operational energy over the past year had a huge impact on how the Army executes OE programs.
"Of all the component commands I think ARCENT is on the forefront of using new technology to save money," said Prosper of his team's accomplishments.
He said the four facets of appeal they target are water, waste, electricity, and fuel, and incorporating new technology and processes that reduce usage by 25 percent and saves the taxpayers money.
The BEYA recognizes minorities in the military and brings visibility to the industry. In addition to winning the BEYA two years in a row, Prosper has also been awarded by the U.S. Army's Engineer Regiment, the prestige of Warrant Officer Engineer of the Year twice, in 2012 and 2014.
Prosper's boss and mentor, Col. Jerry Farnsworth, USARCENT director of engineers, said he is not at all surprised by his achievements. The first time Prosper won the WOEYA Farnsworth was his battalion commander. He said he felt blessed that Prosper "chose" to come to USARCENT.
"It's an absolute honor to have this sort of talent here serving with us. He operates at a field grade officer level and sets a great example. He helps mentor other officers whether they're captains, [noncommissioned officers] and he also mentors people above like lieutenant colonels. The respect he has in the directorate is awesome," said Farnsworth.
Prosper credits his success to having worked on several high visibility projects for the Army. One such project is the solar light carts he initiated for use at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait. For years the Army has used power generated light carts for nighttime safety and visibility.
"I did a project where I bought 250 solar light carts to replace the generated light sets on Camp Arifjan. Currently within Kuwait there are about 2,700 generated light sets. If we were to replace every generated light set with a solar light cart we could save the Army in excess of $56 million dollars in four years alone. Just by the cost of fuel and maintenance," Prosper explained.
He said the solar light carts charge during the day and run off solar battery power throughout the night. Currently 76 of the 250 have been delivered. As they continue to collect the data they have already seen a huge return on investment. If there is enough success they will push to replace every light cart in theater.
Although receiving awards for his achievements is not new to Prosper, he said he is still very humbled by the recognition.
"I'm a very modest guy. Deep down I do what I do, I show up to work and I try my best. It is a lot of hard work and at the end of the day I think my family pays for it because of the extra work I have to put in. It comes at a price but once you reap the benefits of an award it pays for itself. But at the end of the day I don't seek projects so I can be rewarded. I have a very high work ethic. You have to produce as engineers especially at USARCENT where you support the warfighters," said Prosper of his achievements.
Prosper was recently selected for a pilot program for warrant officers to attend the command and general staff officer's course. Out of 1,100 eligible applicants only nine were selected and he is the first engineer warrant officer who will attend the resident course Intermediate Level Education at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, this summer. This is an honor he does not take lightly.
"That is a huge accomplishment for me. Not necessarily for me but for the engineer regiment. As a warrant officer being the first guy to attend the program brings a lot of responsibility. I know I'm going to have a lot of hard work to do," said Prosper. "I want to make sure I do the best job I can so folks can look around and say, 'He did a great job. I think we should try to get many more folks, not just engineer warrant officers but warrant officers across the board into those programs.'"
He envisions other warrants having the opportunity to learn from other field grade officers in the program but also giving those officers first-hand knowledge of what a warrant officer brings to the table, and how they can be force multipliers.
He said he is very passionate about what he does, and wants to give back to the regiment.
"The Army has been great to me. I love the Army. I do some very neat and interesting things I don't think you'd ever have the opportunity to do on the civilian side. I love what I do. I love the people I work for. I love the regiment that I serve, the engineer regiment, which is the greatest regiment. And yes, I want to give back to the regiment," he said, adding he can see himself serving the Army for 30 years.
His career goals from this point include becoming the regimental chief warrant officer for the engineer regiment.
"The next step after that and my personal goal is becoming the army chief of staff warrant officer at the Pentagon," Prosper added.
Farnsworth has no doubt that he will accomplish his goals.
"He is in the elite of warrant officers and I fully expect to see him one day as the chief warrant officer for the regiment," Farnsworth added.
Prosper is evidence of the great strides taking place within the warrant officer career path and doors being opened for future endeavors.
"I think it's a great time to be a warrant officer. We have been blessed with opportunities that we never had in the last 20 years. I know there are a few guys ahead of me who pushed for those opportunities and I'm reaping the benefits so I want to thank them for that as well. Being a warrant officer in the military to me is the greatest job you can have," Prosper concluded.
| Date Taken: | 03.11.2016 |
| Date Posted: | 03.11.2016 17:02 |
| Story ID: | 192097 |
| Location: | SHAW AIR FORCE BASE, SOUTH CAROLINA, US |
| Web Views: | 258 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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