On April 30, 2010, Specialist Edward Sherwood graduated from One Station Unit Training as the “Soldier of the Cycle” of Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 19th Infantry of the 198th Infantry Training Brigade at Fort Benning, Georgia.
The graduation ceremony was held at the new parade field adjacent to the recently opened National Infantry Museum which includes soil from US Army battlefields from all over the world.
As the distinguished honor graduate, Specialist Sherwood was recognized as the best all-around Soldier of his over two-hundred man company during the fourteen week training cycle including both basic training and advanced individual infantry training. He was awarded an Army Achievement Medal for his accomplishment.
During the graduation ceremony, Specialist Sherwood led the soldiers, drill sergeants, and officers of his battalion in The Soldier’s Creed.
Selection as “Soldier of the Cycle” is based on a soldier’s overall performance, military bearing, positive attitude, teamwork and qualities of leadership evidenced over the entire training period. Other factors were that he had the highest score on the Army Physical Fitness Test scoring 320 points on the extended scale beyond the maximum score of 300. No one else in his company scored higher than 300. Sherwood also fired expert in basic rife marksmanship training tying with another soldier for the highest point score in his company, scored a direct hit during an AT-4 live missile firing, and achieved a Level 1 proficiency in Combatives which is based on Brazilian ju-jitsu techniques.
Sherwood is a six-year veteran of the Fayette County Fire and Emergency Services where he is Nationally Registered Paramedic. He intends to continue serving his community as a paramedic when he completes his Army training.
In late 2009, he volunteered to serve his country in a time of war by joining the Alabama National Guard’s 20th Special Forces Group (the Georgia National Guard does not have a Special Forces unit). Sherwood will become a Special Forces Medic after he successfully completes Special Forces Assessment and Selection Training and the Special Forces Qualification Course. He is currently in airborne training at Fort Benning to earn his “jump wings”.
Specialist Sherwood is a 2002 graduate of McIntosh High School and has earned an associate degree in Paramedic Technology at Griffin Technical Institute and is nearing completing of an associate degree as a registered nurse. His wife, Heather Sherwood, is the school counselor at North Fayette Elementary and they make their home in Fayetteville, Georgia.
