 Well good morning ladies and gentlemen and welcome to the Sergeant Major of the Army Awards Forum and the start of 2022 AUSA annual meeting. I'm Dan Daly, Sergeant Major of the Army Retired and as a reminder please silence and turn off your cell phones so as not to break up the festivities this morning. And for all the Soldiers and non-commissioned officers here in attendance, use this opportunity over the next several days to learn more about your Army, gain new ideas from our senior Army leaders, and learn more about our doctrine and training programs. While these next several days are fun-filled events, they're professional development and learning events as well. We have a number of distinguished guests with us today. In the room today is the 12th Sergeant Major of the Army, SMA retired Jack Tilly. Do I got a cue again? The 12th Sergeant Major of the Army, SMA Jack Tilly. Ladies and gentlemen we are blessed to have with us the 13th Sergeant Major of the Army. Sergeant Major of the Army retired Ken Preston. And ladies and gentlemen we're also blessed to have with us today the 14th Sergeant Major of the Army. Sergeant Major of the Army retired Ray Chandler. This week we will have several of our international Sergeant Major of the Army with us this week and we wish them a warm welcome. Before we begin this morning I'd like to invite General Robert Brown, President and CEO of the Association of the United States Army, provide a welcome and a few comments. Let's give General Brown a big round of applause. Well if that doesn't get you motivated to sit next to the former Sergeant Major of the Army we had an idea we're going to form a squad, an old guy squad. There's some you know can't run anymore at certain things although some of these guys can I can't but hey it's great to be here. I just want to congratulate the awardees. All these awards are so special. It's really unbelievable and for me several are really personal. Sergeant Major Larry Strickland I served with him in the Pentagon. Our lockers were right next to each other in the POAC and I left shortly before 9-1-1 and tragically he was killed there in the Pentagon. An amazing human being, amazing person, amazing leader. So to see an award named after Sergeant Major Strickland it just fills my heart with pride that his legacy lives on. And then the Troy Welsh Award. Troy's one of our superstars at AUSA and so how proud we are of him that the award named after him he does. We're actually requiring him to do a little bit more now. He's got a award named after him. He'll push him a little bit. But take advantage of being here. There's tremendous educational forms really the best I've seen this year on all kinds of relevant subjects dealing with the Army. People writing this modernization. Ukraine, what's happened in Ukraine, etc. So please take advantage of that. But I really biggest thing I wanted to do was thank you all because we all know we've known for a long time all this that what makes us the best Army in the world, what makes us a great Army is our non-commissioned officers. Unlike anywhere, anyone, unbelievable. I learned that my first platoon sergeant Dwight Anderson who came with a Vietnam veteran had taught me just unbelievable and have seen it ever since. The amazing service of our non-commissioned officers. And you have the tough jobs. You know, the officers are thinking all these grandiose do this and you're out there working and doing the tough jobs. No doubt about it. And what's kind of special now is the whole world is seeing it as they watch this terrible tragedy in Ukraine, what Russia is doing. But they all are like, well, this is unbelievable. How is Russia, you know, they're doing so poorly and the answer, we all knew it, but they don't have non-commissioned officers. They don't have, they can't empower non-commissioned officers and look at the difference. And so I'm just so proud of all of you and I tell you, we want to start the old guy squad because you look really sharp in that new uniform too. It just looks unbelievable and makes me want to re-enlist for another 38. All right. So hey, enjoy the conference. Congratulations to the awardees, really special. And thank you, our non-commissioned officers, what makes us a great Army in the world. No doubt about it. Well, thank you, gentlemen Brown. I like the old squad concept, gentlemen Brown, and the good thing is, is Jack Tilly won't have to buy one of the uniforms. He could just break out his original World War II uniform that he served in when he was the SMA. Well, ladies and gentlemen, it is going to be a great week. So let's get started. Today we have a number of awards we want to present to recognize our non-commissioned officers of excellence. We will begin with announcing the winners of the FY 2022 Sergeant Major Larry L. Strickland Education Leadership Award. Sergeant Major Larry L. Strickland Education Leadership Award is given in honor of the memory of Sergeant Major Larry L. Strickland, the deputy chief of staff, G1 Sergeant Major, who was killed in the September 11th terrorist attack on the Pentagon. Sergeant Major Strickland was an outstanding non-commissioned officer and friend who cared deeply about soldiers and the professionalism and their development. He believed if you educate the NCO, you educate the soldier they lead. Honoring Sergeant Major Strickland today gives us the opportunity to honor all those who have given their life in the service of our nation. Sergeant Major Strickland Education Leadership Award is awarded annually to a senior and mid-grade non-commissioned officer who exemplified the Army's vision of lifelong learning and motivates others to continue their professional development to shape our future leaders. A non-commissioned officer like Sergeant Major Strickland, who identifies, trains, and develops coaches and mentors to tomorrow's leaders. A non-commissioned officer who is a steward of the Army and our nation's most precious resource, the American Soldier. I'd like to ask the following distinguished guest to please join me on stage, Sergeant Major of the Army, Michael Grinsen. Sergeant Major retired, Tom Gills, who serves as the President of the Sergeant Major, Larry L. Strickland Memorial Fund, and Ms. Pam Swann, Vice President of Military Relations and Business Development for Veterans United Home Loans. And now, the 2022 Sergeant Major Larry L. Strickland Education Leadership Award, senior non-commissioned officer recipient is, First Sergeant Robert Castaneda, 978th Military Police Company, 93rd Military Police Battalion, First Armored Division, United States Army Forces Command. SMA Grinsen will present our 2022 senior non-commissioned officer honoree with a bronze eagle. Sergeant Major Gills, the President of the Sergeant Major, Larry L. Strickland Memorial Fund Committee, will present a check for $4,000. Ms. Pam Swann from Veterans United will present our honoree with a laptop computer on behalf of Veterans United Home Loans. Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in a round of applause. The 2022 Sergeant Major Larry L. Strickland Educational Leadership Award mid-grade non-commissioned officer recipient is, Sergeant First Class Laurentino Benitez. SMA Grinsen will present our 2022 mid-grade non-commissioned officer honoree with a bronze eagle. Sergeant Major Gills, the President of the Sergeant Major Larry L. Strickland Memorial Fund Committee, will present a check for $4,000. Ms. Pam Swann from Veterans United will present our honoree with a laptop computer on behalf of Veterans United Home Loans. In addition to the bronze eagles received here, there's also a large bronze eagle on display at the United States Army Sergeant Major Academy at Fort Bliss, Texas. All the eagles are from your association with the United States Army. The name of each Strickland award recipient has been added to the permanently displayed bronze eagle at the United States Army Sergeant Major Academy. Please join me in one more round of applause. And now I have the honor of announcing the 2022 Sergeant Major Dawn Kilpatrick Memorial AUSA Scholarship Award. The Sergeant Major Dawn Kilpatrick Memorial AUSA Scholarship Award is given in honor of the memory of Sergeant Major Dawn Kilpatrick. Sergeant Major Dawn Kilpatrick began her public affairs career in 1979. Sergeant Major Kilpatrick's most challenging assignments included serving as the newspaper editor of three of the Army's most prestigious newspapers, the Hawaii Army Weekly at Fort Shafter, Hawaii, the Bayonet at Fort Benning, Georgia, and the Paraglide at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Then as a special assistant to the secretary of the Army, Sergeant Major Kilpatrick served as the personal public affairs officer for the secretary. She was the first non-commissioned officer ever to serve in that role. Sergeant Major Kilpatrick was a master parachutist with more than 650 jumps. She spent two years as a member of the prestigious Golden Knights, the United States Army's parachutes, demonstration team. In 1999, the United States Army and the Association United States Army formed a partnership to honor Sergeant Major Dawn Kilpatrick and her selfless service to our Army and our nation. The Office of the Chief of Public Affairs established a scholarship in her name, titled the Sergeant Major Dawn Kilpatrick Memorial Association of the United States Army Scholarship Award. I would ask the following distinguished guests to please join me on the stage. With us still is Sergeant Major the Army, oh, he is not. Sergeant Major the Army, Michael Grinsen. Sergeant Major Stephanie L. Cleveland from the Office of the Chief of Public Affairs and the Army Public Affairs Sergeant Major, and again, Ms. Pam Swann, President of Military Relations and Business Development for Veterans United Home Loans. And now, the 2022 recipient of the Sergeant Major Dawn Kilpatrick Scholarship is Sergeant First Class Adrienne Potoka, Security Force Assistance Command Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Ms. Stephanie Grinsen will present our 2022 Sergeant Major Dawn Kilpatrick Honorary with a bronze eagle. Sergeant Major Cleveland will present our award recipient a check for $4,000. Ms. Pam Swann from Veterans United will present a laptop computer to our award recipient on behalf of Veterans United Home Loans. Each year, recipient's name will be permanently displayed in place in honor in the Office of the Chief of Public Affairs in the Pentagon. Ladies and gentlemen, join me in a round of applause. The Army's commitment to improving overall nutrition or action is an initiative that enables the enterprise as a collective effort to enhance readiness through nutrition. The lethality of our soldiers depends on their physical and cognitive performance in which nutrition is the most critical component of a conditioned warfighter. To promote excellence in nutrition, the Army created the Command Sergeant Major retired Troy Welsh Action Award as a way to reward this excellence. Command Sergeant Major retired Troy Welsh, entered active duty in June of 1977. He enlisted as a food service specialist, well served in every leadership position from first cook, shift leader, platoon sergeant, first sergeant and Command Sergeant Major. Sergeant Major Welsh was also the first soldier to serve as the Army G4 Sergeant Major and the final food service specialist to serve at the major command level. Culminating his career as the Command Sergeant Major, United Nations Command, Combined Forces Command, United States Forces Korea and Eighth Army after 30 years of service, Command Sergeant Major Welsh retired in July of 2007. In his honor each year, the headquarters department of the Army, deputy chief of staff of the Army G4 will recognize the top three warrior restaurants that has the highest cumulative points on the action scorecard from the vantage. The action scorecard assesses standards in progress for go for green, army, modernization, military nutrition assessment tool, customer feedback, feeding options, basic daily food allowance management, peak head count and substance in kind utilization. The winners will be awarded the Command Sergeant Major retired Troy Welsh Action Award plaque. I would ask the following distinguished guests to please join me on stage, the Sergeant Major of the Army, Michael Grinsen, Sergeant Major Jimmy Sellers from the office of the deputy chief of staff G4 and Command Sergeant Major retired here present today, Troy Welsh. The 2022 winners of the Command Sergeant Major retired Troy Welsh Action Award are third place, Yusisak, represented today by Sergeant First Class Joshua Babcock from Third Special Forces Group and Sergeant First Class Jesse Pepis represented today, Seventh Special Forces Group. All right, let's give him one more round of applause. Second place from Forces Command, Sergeant First Class Charles Hemphill, 10th Mountain Division, 1st Brigade, 10th Brigade Support Battalion and specialist Sophie Ortiz, 82nd Airborne Division, 2nd Brigade, 407th Support Battalion, Company E. Let's give him another round of applause, please. Mm-hmm. And now, first place from Yusisak, Sergeant First Class, oh, correct, Staff Sergeant Simone Jackson, 221st Quartermaster Company, 18th CSSB, 16th Support Brigade. Also, Sergeant Christian Souza, 55th Quartermaster Company, 16th STB, 16th Support Brigade. Let's give all the recipients of the Command Sergeant Major retired Troy Welsh Action Award, one more big round of applause. Excellent performance in commodities or EPIC is an initiative to drive change at the point of need and to sustain a high state of logistical readiness across our Army. EPIC supports the CSA's Logistics Excellence Awards Program by synchronizing logistics commodity stakeholders and their ability to evaluate progress in the areas of logistical readiness, levels required to sustain at an echelon from the joint strategic to the tactical support areas. To recognize excellence in logistics, they created the Command Sergeant Major retired James K. Sims Epic Award. Command Sergeant Major Sims had a prominent presence in the state community, serving 33 years in the Quartermaster Corps of the United States Army. Sims served in a variety of leadership roles, ranging from squad leader to Command Sergeant Major. Command Sergeant Major Sims was recognized as an engaged leader at all levels, both through the military and industry. Sergeant Major Sims culminated this career as the Command Sergeant Major of the Army Material Command at Redstone, Arsenal, Alabama. In the honor of Sergeant Major Sims, each year the headquarters department of the Army, deputy chief of staff of the Army G4 will recognize the top commands, winner and runner up, that have the highest cumulative points on the EPIC scorecard. The EPIC scorecard assesses standards and progress for the following logistic categories, Command Supply Discipline Program, Command Maintenance Discipline Program, Command Deployment Discipline Program, Evaluations, Central Issue Facility Reform, Item Unique Identification, Equipment Maintenance, Status Report, Status of Resources and Training Systems, and lastly, Modified Work Orders. I would ask the following distinguished guest to please join me on stage, again, the Sergeant Major of the Army, Sergeant Major of the Army, Michael Grinston, accompanied by Sergeant Major Jimmy Sellers from the office of the deputy chief for, and Command Sergeant Major retired Troy Welsh, director of the non-commissioned officer and soldier programs at AUSA. The 2022 winners of the Command Sergeant Major retired, James K. Sims, EPIC Award R, second place, Sergeant Major Alejandro Arrimendi, sorry about that, force com HHC 1229, attack battalion 16 CAB, seventh ID, and Sergeant Jonathan Atkins from Forces Command, HHC, third cap. Let's give him a big round of applause. And our first place winners, Yuseraf, represented today by Mass Sergeant Khalid Bocell, G4 Yuseraf and Mass Sergeant Kevin Dukinwicks, G4 of Yuseraf. Let's give all of our recipients that the Command Sergeant Major retired, James K. Sims, EPIC Award, a big round of applause. Our final award presentation this morning will recognize the AUSA NCO and Soldier Programs Chapter Plus Challenge winner for 2022. In 2020, the non-commissioned officer and soldier programs director created the honorary Don Thomas NCO and Soldier Ribbon, along with the NCO and Soldier Plus Challenge to encourage and recognize engagement with their local non-commissioned officer and soldier population. In honor of the service of Don Thomas during his many years in the office of the NCO and Soldier Programs at AUSA, each year the chapter that excels beyond their peers in NCO and Soldier Engagement is awarded the title of the Don Thomas NCO and Soldier Programs Best Chapter. I would ask the following distinguished guest to please join me on stage. Command Sergeant Major retired, Troy Welsh, director of NCO and Soldier Programs. Along with the sponsors of the program, Command Sergeant Major retired, Ed Seiser and Sergeant Major US Army Marine Corps retired, Chinua Leyva from GEICO Insurance. They may not be here today. That's okay. The AUSA NCO and Soldier Programs Best Chapter for 2022 is the George Washington Chapter. Could you please join us on stage? Along with a Ribbon and Streamer for their colors, they'll be awarded a monetary check for $1,000 to be used in non-commissioned officer programs and calendar year 2023. Nothing like a big check. Ladies and gentlemen, let's give the chapter who demonstrated the most for our NCOs and Soldiers for 2022 a big round of applause. And I'd like to take a moment to recognize our sponsors. Many of who are in the room today, we simply could not do what we do with the Association United States Army without our dedicated and passionate sponsors. Let's give our sponsors a big round of applause ladies and gentlemen. I have a few notes and then I'm gonna turn the floor over to our Sergeant Major of the Army. Our next event in the opening ceremony is in the main ballroom located on the third floor. Make sure you make your way up here shortly after this event because the seating will be limited and it will start on time. 1300 today is the SMA's NCO and Soldier of the Year Best Squad Awards Forum at 1300 in room 146A, B and C right around the corner from this facility here. Tomorrow morning at 0930 is the SMA's professional development forum in 152A and B and at 1230 tomorrow the CSA will give remarks and recognize the drill sergeants of the year, the recruiters of the year, the retention NCOs of the year during the Eisenhower presentation in the main ballroom on the third floor. And on Wednesday at 1200 hours, one you won't wanna miss is the SMA will give his annual niches brief in room 152A and B. And of course don't forget to spend some time on the showroom floor and visit with all of our vendors throughout the week. Thanks for joining us this morning. And at this time, I'll turn the last remarks over to the 16th Sergeant Major of the Army, Sergeant Major of the Army, Michael Grinstin. What's good to be back, isn't it? I'm having a moment. It's good to be back, isn't it? Yeah. Isn't something, I don't know, grunt, or it's sort of early. And you did a PT so it shouldn't be that early, right? TJ, did you do PT? Grr. Yeah, grr, okay. I appreciate everybody being here. I actually wanna just make a couple comments because I know it's gonna take you like an hour to get up to the opening ceremony and don't be late. It will start on time and every time you move across here, it does take a little extra time because you'll walk about five steps and go, oh, I haven't seen that person in 10 years. So to include somebody down here. So I think I was his Brigade Sergeant Major when he was a young, much younger Sergeant there. So that happens at all levels. You're gonna see people that you haven't seen. So I'll give you plenty of time to get to the opening ceremony, but it is really good to be back. We just haven't done it in this form, in this fashion. We did it a little bit last year and then we're in it, but now we're back to full capacity. And it really is good to be back to see people, people are humans, we gotta interact with people so this is really good just to be here. I do wanna recognize a couple of folks that we didn't get, I know they said International Sergeant Major of Your Army, but if you're in the room and you're the Sergeant Major of Your Army, could you please stand up? I think I saw Paul, Jim, he's my teammate, somebody else here, I think, Japan? That's it, let's give them a round of applause. And Jim, not to heckle you, but I saw Paul at the Army 10-Miler yesterday. He was way behind me by like hours or something like that, that's not true. So good running teammate and good to see everybody out. I think 20,000 yesterday, but thanks for coming here. And we didn't obviously recognize the 15th Sergeant Major of The Army because he didn't wanna introduce himself, but Dan Daly, where you at? Did you leave me? There you go. Let's give him a round of applause too, darling. You know, all these events started last week and everybody's waiting for the luncheon. And they're on the back and I'm gonna introduce you one more time. Let's see if I get it right. Honey Badgers Army National Army Reserve, let's go, where you at? Come on, stand up. Okay, we're gonna find out who's the winner. You got like three or four more hours to go, okay? Go ahead and sit down. Let's give him a round of applause, Honey Badgers. The Minutemen, Army National Guard. Now technically, you know, I did at some point pass you all on the run. You know, it got really, it was like Sergeant Major, that's not funny, but I think at the end you gutted it out and beat me, so it was close, it was touching go there. Okay, Force Comm, see Mohawk team, where you at? Awesome. And then last but not least, team Musesot. And I like to see, I said I passed their squad too, they're like, Sergeant Major, no, you didn't. I was like, yeah, I didn't, they're like, no, you didn't. The reason I wanna introduce them and I wanna talk about the Action Award, this is kind of a year of first. We haven't been recognized our food service individuals in this capacity since I've been the Sergeant Major Army and I really wanna thank Jimmy Sellers for putting this together and having these great soldiers come up here and do this. I mean, there's two things that we all know motivates young soldiers. Number one is where am I gonna stay and when I sleep? It's like, hey, I gotta get barracks and then the, you know, food. And then I guess three, I guess we gotta pay you at some point. But when you look at the food and what these young soldiers have done and I really appreciate that and thanks Sergeant Major Sellers for putting this together. So thank you for doing that and bringing these soldiers together. And then that's the first of this year and the first time we're gonna announce the best squad the first time in the Army. But don't forget, we still are gonna announce an NCO of the year and a soldier of the year. We might have missed that part, but that's still gonna happen at lunch. There's still gonna be an NCO of the year, and a soldier of the year, and then we will announce the best squad. So this is a great way to start off. We've got all these awards and I really appreciate putting this together. And then you're gonna sit in the opening ceremony. So I won't delay the inevitable of going up to opening ceremony. I just wanna tell you how proud I am to be here with you today. And I think all the former Sergeant Majors of the Army being here with me and I look forward to the opening comments. And I look forward to a great three days. We've got a great program, a lot of awards to give out and a lot of announcements for what we're gonna do with the Army. So I look forward to listening to your comments and or listening to your questions on Wednesday. So thank you. Have a great Army Day. Army strong.