{"id":11101,"date":"2023-05-16T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-05-16T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=11101"},"modified":"2023-05-18T06:50:03","modified_gmt":"2023-05-18T06:50:03","slug":"guam-army-guard-soldier-earns-expert-soldier-badge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=11101","title":{"rendered":"Guam Army Guard Soldier Earns Expert Soldier Badge"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n Spc. Kiana Siguenza of SECFOR 6, Task Force Talon, 38th Air Defense Artillery Brigade, competes in the ruck march portion of the U.S. Army Japan Expert Soldier Badge testing at the Sagami General Depot, Japan, April 28, 2023. Siguenza, a member of the Guam National Guard, is the first recipient of the Expert Soldier Badge in the organization.
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YIGO, Guam \u2013 Of the 133 Soldiers who competed in the U.S. Army Japan\u2019s Expert Soldier Badge qualification April 10-28, the shortest competitor was Spc. Kiana Siguenza of Task Force Talon, 38th Air Defense Artillery Brigade.<\/p>\n

But over five grueling days, when the field was whittled to just nine winners, it was Siguenza who perhaps stood tallest of all.<\/p>\n

Siguenza is a member of the Guam Army National Guard, deployed with Task Force Talon to defend the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense on Guam. She is the first winner of the Expert Soldier Badge in the history of the Guam Guard.<\/p>\n

\u201cI learned to test my limits,\u201d said Siguenza. \u201cThere were parts where I felt like giving up, but I was motivated and I just kept going.\u201d<\/p>\n

The competition tested Soldiers\u2019 skills and expertise in military tasks, including land navigation, weapons handling, patrolling, medical care, and a 12-mile ruck march. Those who succeeded earned the coveted badge.<\/p>\n

U.S. Army Soldiers from across Japan and Guam competed at Sagami General Depot and the Combined Arms Training Center, Camp Fuji.<\/p>\n

With some units seeing attrition rates as high as 97%, the ESB is not only for the elite but also a testament to a Soldier\u2019s unwavering commitment to excellence and readiness for any mission.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Expert Soldier Badge testing challenges the skills and abilities of our Soldiers,\u201d said Sgt. Maj. Alex Richardson, the U.S. Army Japan Plans and Operations sergeant major. \u201cThe rigorous nature of the testing ensured that only the best of the best would be awarded the coveted ESB.\u201d<\/p>\n

Siguenza says she looks forward to coming home and sharing her knowledge to help prepare others.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe experience was amazing,\u201d said Siguenza. \u201cI went out there for more of a challenge and I really wasn\u2019t expecting to get the badge. But it was a good experience and I encourage everyone to come out and experience it, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Schmiett, U.S. Army Japan, contributed to this story.<\/p>\n

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Spc. Kiana Siguenza of SECFOR 6, Task Force Talon, 38th Air Defense Artillery Brigade, competes in the ruck march portion of the U.S. Army Japan Expert Soldier Badge testing at the Sagami General Depot, Japan, April 28, 2023. Siguenza, a member of the Guam National Guard, is the first recipient of the Expert Soldier Badge […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11103,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11101","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11101","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11101"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11101\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11104,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11101\/revisions\/11104"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}