Fort Drum’s “best of the best” headed to Bragg for competition

FORT DRUM, N.Y. (WWNY) - If someone told you to ‘strap on heavy equipment, run 12 miles, take a test, write an essay, shoot, disassemble and reassemble a rifle, navigate courses night and day, then speak in front of the highest ranking soldiers in the 10th Mountain Division,’ would you do it?

Sergeant Chancelor Douglas did.

“I don’t like to lose,” Sergeant Douglas said.

And he didn’t. Douglas, a culinary specialist with the 548th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, came out on top of a two-day long competition, winning the title of 10th Mountain Division Soldier of the Year. He clinched a spot to compete for the 18th Airborne Corps Soldier of the Year competition at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

Fort Bragg is a special place for him because of one special person.

“My father. He’s retired by Fort Bragg in North Carolina,” Sergeant Douglas said.

Retired U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Carl Stanford Douglas, Jr. served 20 years in the Army.

“My dad taught me from an early age to just never quit and always put your best foot forward, and at the end of it, if you put your best effort in, there’s no regret,” Douglas said.

Sergeant Douglas won’t be alone at Fort Bragg. Combat medic, Sergeant Gregory Yacovou, will join him as the 10th Mountain Division’s Non-commissioned Officer of the Year.

“I’m proud that I get to represent 10th Mountain at the next level,” Sergeant Yacovou said. “We’re going to compete against some of the best divisions in the Army and it will be a really good time. It’ll be a challenge.”

Douglas and Yacovou will continue to train until competition day June 21st.

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