Nine of the Army’s very best noncommissioned officers gathered recently at Fort Eustis, Va., to compete in this year’s AIT Platoon Sergeant of the Year Competition.This elite group underwent physical and mental challenges designed to test their knowledge of warrior tasks and battle drills and, most importantly, to test their ability to teach these tasks to new soldiers in initial entry training.This year’s top honor went to Sgt. 1st Class Delroy G. Barnett, 32d Medical Brigade, Fort Sam Houston, Texas.When informed that he had won the competition, his reaction was just what you would expect from a steadfast professional noncommissioned officer: "Every time I compete it strengthens my warrior skills and this better enables me to train the soldiers entrusted to me," he said.Barnett is from Jamaica and he served for six years in the Jamaica Defense Force before moving to the United States in 1995.He enlisted in the U.S. Army in 2003 and received his initial entry training in Fort Benning, Ga. and Fort Sam Houston.Barnett’s first duty assignment after earning his health care specialist MOS from AIT was with the 123rd Maneuver Support Battalion, 1st Armored Division in Dexheim, Germany.Two deployments, one to Operation Iraqi Freedom and one to Operation New Dawn earned him a Bronze Star Medal, a Combat Medic Badge and a Combat Action Badge.Barnett will be recognized for his extraordinary achievement during the Eisenhower Luncheon at this year’s AUSA Annual Meeting and Exposition.He will receive the Finnis D. McCleery Award from the Army chief of staff and the sergeant major of the Army.The award is named in honor of a Medal of Honor recipient who served as a platoon sergeant during the war in Vietnam.McCleery’s extraordinary heroism and remarkable leadership qualities are those to which all Army platoon sergeants and AIT platoon sergeants in particular aspire to.Barnett and the 2012 Drill Sergeants and Recruiters of the Year along with the winners of the Best Warrior Competition will be attending the AUSA Annual Meeting and Exposition as our special guests.So join us in honoring these great soldiers and many more attending this year’s three day professional development session.Thank you for all you do for America’s Army and for your support of AUSA.Army Strong!