SAN ANTONIO, Texas –
U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class William Booth was named the U.S. Army Medical Recruiting Brigade’s best warrior of the year Feb. 28, all while breaking a finger during the competition.
Booth is an Army combat medic by trade currently serving as a health care recruiter at the Kansas City Medical Recruiting Station, one of 14 medical recruiting stations assigned to the 5th Medical Recruiting Battalion.
“I just wanted to go out there and do my best for the battalion, for my company and my station,” Booth said.
During the competition, each battalion’s best non-commissioned officer is tested on their ability to perform well in a board interview, physical fitness test, an obstacle course and Soldier tasks and drills such as day and night land navigation, combatives and a 12-mile road march.
“I broke my finger during combatives, and I was a little worried, but I tried to remain calm and stay focused,” Booth explained.
Booth continued to perform under pressure with a broken finger, and overall he maxed the physical fitness test, the 12-mile road march, and the land navigation events.
“I really like doing Army things,” explained Booth, who is also an Expert Field Medical Badge recipient, and has spent most of his 12-year Army career assigned to combat arms units serving in both Iraq and Afghanistan.
Prior to Army medical recruiting, Booth served as a medical platoon sergeant for an infantry battalion in the 82nd Airborne Division and had the opportunity to serve in an NCO exchange program with the British Army’s 16th Air Assault Brigade.
Although a combat medic, Booth said as an Army medical recruiter, he has learned to be adaptable and get out of his comfort zone.
“It’s also given me more knowledge that I can take back to my Soldiers about medical programs available in the Army that I had no idea existed,” he said. “So, I think it’s been really beneficial.”
“Sgt. 1st Class Booth has excelled in every course that he has attended while be assigned to us,” said Command Sgt. Maj. Priscilla Davis. “And his performance while carrying out his daily duties as a recruiter has been exceptional.”
Booth will move on to represent the Medical Recruiting Brigade during the upcoming best warrior competition hosted by the U.S. Army Recruiting Command in late April.