SGT Matthew Rutkowski

Rugged on the outside but with a big heart, Rutkowski inspires soldiers.

He displayed his tough side by diving in turbulent waters off the coast of Georgia last summer and rescuing a soldier’s spouse who lost consciousness in a swell.

But it is not just Rutkowski’s daring that motivated fellow soldiers to nominate him for Army Times Soldier of the Year. It’s his compassion.

He helped “countless” soldiers through difficult times in 2011, guiding soldiers through divorces and money problems and even talking down one from suicide, his nominators wrote.

“SGT Ski always has time for any soldier, whether they belong to him or not. I’ve never seen him turn someone away,” Spc. Bradley Burnum wrote in nominating Rutkowski. Those actions haven’t gone unnoticed. Last year’s staff sergeant promotion board picked him up as soon as he was eligible, and his leadership selected him over peers for a job slotted for a soldier of higher rank. His battalion also named him noncommissioned officer of the month in May for outstanding performance.

His good deeds in 2011 didn’t end with the Army. Rutkowski volunteered at his local fire department, helped set up a new church and organized a Thanksgiving |dinner for the Boys and Girls Club of America.

In November, Rutkowksi, originally of Wilmington, Del., even suited up for the All-Army rugby team at the Armed Forces Championship at Fort Benning, Ga.

“No one NCO has inspired me to be a soldier more than him,” Burnum wrote.