Thursday, April 26, 2007 12:29 AM CDT
Charleston man is state National Guard NCO of year
By DAVE FOPAY, Staff Writer
dfopay@jg-tc.com
CHARLESTON — Jason Steidl has some strong personal feelings about what a soldier should be.
And he thinks his idea about “warrior ethos” did a lot to help him earn state and potentially national recognition.
The Charleston native had to answer a question about that during part of the competition that led him to be named the Illinois National Guard non-commissioned officer of the year.
“To me, warrior ethos is the driving force behind a soldier,” Steidl said. “It’s the power to believe in yourself and perform what you need to do.”
A staff sergeant who works as a recruiter based in the National Guard armory in Mattoon, Steidl received a medal of commendation for winning the state honor in Springfield earlier this week. Next will be a regional competition in Indiana from May 3-5, where he could qualify to compete for the national award.
Steidl joined the Guard in 1998 after six years in the U.S. Army and has been a recruiter since October 2004. His military service includes three deployments overseas, including the initial invasion of Iraq with the 101st Airborne in 2003.
The officer of the year award competition includes questioning by other officers as well as written exams, physical fitness tests and marksmanship tests. Steidl said he also had to go through “warrior tasks” such as radio operation, first aid and navigation.
The board questions portion is where competitors earn the most points, he explained. During that stage, the officers are “grilling you with questions” and the topics of queries “could be anything,” ranging from what can affect a radio to nuclear and chemical poisoning, he said.
“I had to really prep myself,” Steidl said.
A recruiter hasn’t won the state officer of the year award for several years, according to Steidl, and no one from Illinois has won the upcoming regional competition.
“It’s a very big accomplishment,” he said. “I’m proud to represent the recruiting and retention command for the state of Illinois.”
The questioning by the selection boards took place in December, when Steidl advanced out of his unit. About a month later, he advanced from his command, one of five in Illinois, competing against about 1,500 soldiers to qualify for the state competition, which took place in March.
Steidl and his wife Sarah, also a Charleston native, have two sons: Zachary, 12, and Nicholas, 5.
Contact Dave Fopay at dfopay@jg-tc.com or 348-5733.
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 (Submitted to the JG/T-C)
Staff Sgt. Jason Steidl, right, poses with Major Gen. Randall Thomas, commanding officer of the Illinois National Guard.
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Bravo wrote on Apr 25, 2007 9:56 PM: