Story and photo by Luke Waack
Assistant editor

The Maneuver Support Center honored 12 of its instructors who competed against their peers and won the title “Instructor of the Year” for Fiscal Year 2009, at Lincoln Hall, Monday.

Brig. Gen. David Phillips, U.S. Army Military Police School commandant, was the presiding officer and the 399th Army Band played music for the ceremony.

Phillips presented civilian winners with the Commander’s Award for Civilian Service, and military winners with the Army Commendation Medal.

Phillips spoke about the overall quality of MANSCEN instructors, and the distinction of being selected best among their peers.

“We hand select the best to come to the schoolhouses and be able to instruct, because those who leave here are leaving during a time of war. We could not fight were it not for those of you that were recognized today,” Phillips said.

The real reward for these instructors is contributing to the next generation of service members.

“It’s a great way to influence young Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines,” said Kelly Poole, U.S. Army Engineer School, heavy equipment instructor. “I get an opportunity to take the skills I learned while I was on active duty, and use them now to train those (troops) on the piece of equipment they will be using when they get to their units.”

In the Civilian Category, winners were Bob Jones, MANSCEN Directorate of Training, Roosevelt Rogers, U.S. Army Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear School, Kelly Poole, USAES, and David DuBois, USAMPS.

In the Noncommissioned Officer Category, Marine Sgt. Bryce Rose, Fort Leonard Wood Marine Corps Detachment, Staff Sgt. Isaac Smith, USACBRN, Staff Sgt. Calvin Cunningham, USAES, and Staff Sgt. Donovan McManus Jr., USAMPS, took top honors this year.

In the Warrant Officer Category, Chief Warrant Officer 3 Barry Young Jr., USAMPS, was named Instructor of the Year.

Maj. Ervin Eddings Jr., MDOT, Capt. Theresa McDonald, USACBRN, and Maj. Kevin Payne, USAMPS, earned top instructor honors.

Phillips also recognized the Training and Doctrine Command Fiscal Year 2008 Civilian Category Winner George Sutphin, USAES, with a Commander’s Coin for Excellence.

To be considered for the contest, each competitor submitted a nomination packet, which included a video of the instructor teaching a class in their area of expertise. At the beginning of the ceremony, the audience of hundreds of service members and civilians watched a video montage from their competition entries.

The entries of the MANSCEN 2009 winners will be forwarded on to compete for the title of TRADOC Instructor of the Year. The results of that competition will be released in March or April.