2006 Soldier of the Year
honorable
Chief Warrant Officer 4 Randy Kirgiss
No matter where he's deployed, Chief Warrant Officer 4 Randy Kirgiss has always tried to do something for children.
When Kirgiss, a UH-60 Black Hawk pilot, deployed to Iraq in early 2005, he picked up on a friend's idea and initiated Operation Teddy Drop.
By the end of their tour, Kirgiss and his fellow aviators had dropped more than 22,300 stuffed animals from their aircraft to Iraqi children. They also fashioned parachutes for each toy so the gifts would float to the ground.
Operation Teddy Drop was a morale booster, Kirgiss said, and it was nice to see the children's reaction upon receiving the stuffed toys.
During their yearlong tour, Kirgiss and his fellow soldiers flew 20,000 combat hours with no recordable accidents.