After three days of fierce competition among some of the best Soldiers and noncommissioned officers in the 101st Airborne Division, Sgt. Benjamin Rhodes and Pfc. Thomas Bullen emerged victorious as the Division NCO and Soldier of the Year on Monday.

Rhodes is a Cavalry Scout with Troop A, 1st Squadron, 33rd Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team. Bullen is a Combat Medic with Company C, 526th Brigade Support Battalion, 2nd Brigade Combat Team.

The board pitted 10 winners of brigade Soldier and NCO of the year boards against each other in eight events.

The competitors took the Army Physical Fitness Test, qualified on M-4 rifles, performed land navigation during the day and at night, tested their knowledge on a written exam, demonstrated their skill with combatives, validated their abilities on warrior tasks, showed grit during a unknown distance run while in full kit, and displayed their poise and expertise during an oral board before the division’s senior enlisted advisers.

The NCO and Soldier of the Year competition is a way for the division to select and honor outstanding individuals based on their ability to perform tasks important to an expeditionary military force that is ready to deploy and engage in combat in defense of the nation.

Rhodes and Bullen will represent the 101st Abn. Div. in the XVIII Airborne Corps NCO and Soldier of the Year board at Fort Bragg, North Carolina later in June.

While neither won every event, the overall strength of their performances allowed them to best their extremely capable peers. Besides the oral board, all of the events occurred within 48 hours, forcing minimal sleep and time sensitive preparations on the competitors. Participants based their preparations on a memorandum of instruction, which added ambiguity before each event on what specific skills the competitors needed to hone.

“In a sense it makes you a better Soldier because you have to train on everything,” Rhodes said. “I liked that the fact that it had to push me and assess what am I weak at or … on what I’m already good at. You have to be well-rounded.”

“For the division [Soldier of the Year] we were actually training for it before I won brigade,” Bullen said. He added that he only had a two-day turnaround from winning the brigade board to starting the division board.

Both started out well on the APFT with Bullen scoring a 300 and Rhodes scoring a 293. A written test came next which challenged all of the competitors on their Army knowledge. The written exam did not limit itself to just basic Soldier knowledge but asked tough questions about Army regulations and doctrine.

“The sergeant first class who wrote the test he told us specifically that he tried to make it as challenging as he could and it was,” Rhodes said.

“It just got really specific into the different regulations,” Bullen said. “They really wanted you to be in -depth while studying.”

During their warrior tasks and skills station, competitors had to identify and treat a patient. To keep them off balance they had to do a long sprint with a skedco shortly after arriving at the station. In another drill, the competitors received a box filled with parts from a fully disassembled M-9 pistol, M-4 rifle, M-249 squad automatic weapon and M-240B machine gun.

They had 11 minutes to reassemble the weapons and perform a functions check on each weapon. Participants had to identify different types of grenades and their uses, graders also tested them on their ability to don their gas masks and conduct military movement drills.

Rhodes donned and cleared his gas mask in time, but he left on his protective eye wear. He intends to learn from this mistake as he prepares himself for the next level of competition.

“That’s one of the things I’ll train on more,” Rhodes said. “I’ll do a nine second drill wearing a lot of equipment and make sure I take the right equipment off.”

Both winners found it easy to find their eight points during the daylight portion of the land navigation event, but at night it became far more difficult, especially when rain blotted out light from a nearly full moon.

“We showed up at 1 a.m. and the second they released us it started raining,” Rhodes said. “Like as if Fort Campbell knew that we were going to do land nav. In the rain I found five out of eight points, so it was difficult at night.”

Competitors had to be confident they were going in the right direction based off of compass headings, since they couldn’t make out terrain in the darkness. Using a red lens flashlight, they could briefly light their way every 50 meters and use the lighthouse technique to spin around to attempt to identify distinctive terrain features. Still the rain and darkness complicated the situation.

“Day was pretty easy, but nighttime was literally pitch black and pouring rain,” Bullen said. “It was just miserable.”

Soaking wet and tired after finishing the night land navigation course, competitors then had an hour and a half before they had to qualify on the range. This is where having a sponsor helped. Besides helping them to prepare and making sure they were ready to go during each event, sponsors also provided encouragement to the participants.

“Our sponsors were there with our rifles cheering us on for the next event,” Rhodes said.

He then focused on the task at hand.

“In the middle of the rain I laid down my poncho,” Rhodes said. “It was soaking wet and muddy and you just have to try to ignore everything and focus.”

They also had to do an unknown distance run that day after the range and demonstrate their combative skills with an instructor. The judges said if there was a tie, the competitors who tied would have to face off in a match, which excited Bullen.

“They had us demonstrate the moves and talk through them that way they knew we understood what we were doing,” Bullen said. “[Also] if there was a tie we were going to [have a tie break match]. So I was like ‘oh boy I hope there’s a tie!’ I really wanted to wrestle somebody.”

As they appeared before the sergeants major, each competitor had to show poise, attention to detail through their demeanor and the wear of the Army Service Uniform, as well as wisdom when asked scenario questions that tested the competitors’ judgement.

“It is intimidating to talk to all of the sergeants major at one time, just knowing all of the years of experience and everything they’ve seen and they’ve gone through,” Rhodes said. “But at the same time I feel comfortable and confident in the fact that the only reason they’re making me do is it to ... give me guidance on becoming a better NCO or becoming a better Soldier.”

Despite the challenge the event presented to each of the winners, they relished the opportunity to compete, especially since they were competing with the best of the best in the 101st.

“It’s awesome how prepared people are for this. I love it!” Bullen said. “How many times do you get to experience something like this? I’m probably not going to experience it many more times, doing stuff like this and being fortunate enough to get to this point.”

“The most enjoyable part was when I looked to my left and my right I saw that every single competitor there really wanted to do their best,” Rhodes said. “They wanted to win. If you go against somebody and they don’t really want to win, it doesn’t mean anything. That competition and rivalry I think it makes leaders and even Soldiers out there better.”

For the two winners their Families and upbringing helped motivate them.

“My motivation is I come from a place of poverty, where a lot of people were telling me because of where I was born and what I was born into and the environment I grew up in I’m never going to amount to anything,” Rhodes said.

He grew up in public housing in Long Island, New York, and there were times as a child growing up on government assistance his Family struggled to meet their basic needs. He has worked hard in the Army to provide for his Family and make their life better. He said that he has never said no to a school or an opportunity the Army offered him.

“At the very end of the day I’m very grateful to be in the military. If you’re here take every opportunity the Army gives you,” Rhodes said. “I never thought four years ago as a kid in the ghetto I would be the 101st Division NCO of the year.”

“It means a lot. I know my unit is really proud, my Family they’re ecstatic,” Bullen said. “My mom actually posted a picture on Facebook that’s like she did a little explanation of what’s going on and the support from the people at home ... it’s crazy that everybody is so supportive, but I love it, because that is a good system to be a part of. I don’t want to let anybody down. I work as hard as I can, so that way I make everyone proud.”