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XVIII AIRBORNE CORPS ASSOCIATION
SKY DRAGONS
Spring 2012
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82ND DOMINATES XVIII ABN CORPS
NCO AND SOLDIER OF YEAR COMPETITION

Left to Right – CSM (Ret) Ted Gaweda, Pfc. Jeremy Shivick, Sgt. Jason Thomas, Alan Yeater
On 5 April in a ceremony conducted at Sports USA, a huge sports bar at Ft. Bragg, North
Carolina, two paratroopers of the XVIII Airborne Corps' 82nd Airborne Division were selected as the
XVIII Airborne Corps' 2012 NCO and Soldier of the Year. They were Sgt. Jason T. Thomas, 26, and
Pfc. Jeremy Shivick, 21. Both Soldiers are assigned to the 1st Platoon, C Company, 2nd Battalion, 505th
Parachute Infantry Regiment, which is part of the division's 3rd Brigade Combat Team (BCT). This is

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the first time that both winners were from the same unit.
The competition was held from 2 to 4 April, and the winners were announced during the
ceremony which was presided over by the Ft. Bragg Garrison Command Sergeant Major (CSM)
Samuel Campbell and the command sergeant major of XVIII Abn Corps' NCO Academy, CSM
Nicolino Parisi.
These were four days of grueling, early morning and late night events which included basic
Soldier skills, the Army physical fitness test, a written exam, urban map orienteering, M4 rifle
qualification, a weapons event, and an interview board. The competition certainly challenged the
confidence and motivation of the Soldiers. Twenty-one Soldiers competed, representing each
subordinate unit of the XVIII Abn Corps.
Spc. Michael C. Lauritzen, from Jackson, Michigan, assigned to the 716th MP Battalion, 16th
MP Brigade, Ft. Campbell, Kentucky, was quoted saying, “I'm grateful for being here, glad that my
leadership had the confidence in me to compete at this level. I don't have to be a sergeant to encourage
my peers and motivate them.” (This quote and most of the information in this article from the “Paraglide,”...

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