NY Army Guard Sgt. Alexander Sonneville, a Webster resident, earns new Army Expert Soldier Badge

He and three other Guard Soldiers are the first New York National Guard troops to earn the badge

Fort Drum, N.Y. (10/14/2021) — New York Army National Guard Sgt. Alexander Sonneville, a Webster resident, is one of the first four New York National Guard Soldiers to earn the U.S. Army's newest skills badge.

Sonneville and three other Soldiers were awarded the Expert Soldier Badge on October 1 at Fort Drum, following a week of testing conducted by the 10th Mountain Division.

The four men joined another 950 Soldiers across the Army who have earned the new badge, which was created in October 2019.

The badge, which can be earned by all Soldiers who are not infantrymen, Special Forces or medics, joins the Expert Infantry Badge and the Expert Field Medic Badge as a special skills badge.

As of July, according to Army Training and Doctrine Command, only 19% of the 5,000 Soldiers who have sought the Expert Soldier Badge have passed the course.

"The badge represents Soldier excellence," said New York Army National Guard Command Sgt. Major David Piwowarski, the New York Army National Guard's senior enlisted Soldier. "No one earns this badge without hard work and dedication."

Sonneville, a construction worker, and had to successfully complete 30 Soldier tasks, qualify expert on their individual weapon, complete a physical fitness assessment, pass a day and night land navigation course and complete a timed 12-mile foot march with pack and weapon.

He is a cavalry scout team leader in the New York National Guard's Alpha Troop of the 2nd Squadron, 101st Cavalry, which is based at the Geneva Armory.

He prepared for the event by making time for physical fitness training and studying around his busy work schedule, Sonneville said.

The training and testing session run by the 10th Mountain Division allocated two weeks for the skill badge evaluation.

The first week, from Sept. 20 to 26, gave Soldiers a chance to review the skills and then master them with hands on training. The second week, from Sept. 27 to Oct. 1, was the testing phase.

The four New York Guard Soldiers arrived at Fort Drum early so they could get a jump on the training and then they resolved to work together throughout the program.

This made a real difference, Sonneville said.

"We would stand there and test each other while we were getting ready to go through the lanes," he said.

The tasks are broken down into three lanes: weapons tasks, medical tasks and patrol tasks which involve things like map reading, transmitting a spot report and emplacing a Claymore mine.

In the weapons portions the soldiers had to work through tasks involving the Mk. 19 automatic grenade launcher, the M-2 .50 caliber machinegun and the M-249 squad automatic weapon without making a mistake.

They also had to learn to break down the new M-17 Sig Sauer pistol, instead of the M-9 Beretta pistol used by the New York Army National Guard, because that is the pistol issued to 10th Mountain Division troops.

Sonneville said he was fairly comfortable with the ten weapons related tasks, but that it was still "kind of overwhelming" to work through tasks involving the Mark 19 grenade launcher, the M-2 .50 caliber machinegun and the M249 squad automatic weapon in exact sequence.

They also had to learn to break down the new M-17 Sig Sauer pistol, instead of the M-9 Beretta pistol used by the New York Army National Guard, because that is the pistol issued to 10th Mountain Division Soldiers.

He also had to master the Army's combat shotgun, which he had never used before, Sonneville said.

Sonneville said his training as a scout stood him in good stead when it came to the patrol tasks lane.

For example, as a scout leader he has to know how to estimate range and call in artillery fire on a target, which were two of the ten patrolling tasks tested, Sonneville said.

While the process was stressful, it was worth competing, he said.

"Anybody that goes through ESB is going to come out as a better Soldier even if they do not get the badge," he said.

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