Paratrooper earns Sapper tab as honor graduate

1st BCT, 82nd Abn. Div. PAO

	Curley

A paratrooper with 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, graduated as the honor graduate from Sapper Leader Course at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., Friday.

2nd Lt. Nate Curley, platoon leader, 1st Platoon, Company A, 1st Brigade Special Troops Battalion, earned a first-time go in every event, thereby earning the title of honor graduate in a class of over 40 candidates in which only 18 passed the course and earned the coveted Sapper tab.

The Sapper Leader Course trains engineer Soldiers on the full spectrum of combat-engineer tasks as well as basic platoon-level infantry tasks, survivability tasks, advanced mountaineering, airborne operations, air assault operations, combatives and patrolling.

The course is a grueling, 28-day program that attempts to push Soldiers to their mental and physical limits. Of the initial 40 Soldiers in Curley’s class, 27 completed the course and only 18 earned the Sapper tab. Historically, Sapper Leader Course graduates about 50 percent of those who start the course.

Curley said the journey to Sapper school was long awaited for him.

The timing of his graduation from Engineer Officer Basic Course, the March Intensive Training Cycle, a rotation at the Joint Readiness Training Center and Basic Airborne Course kept the lieutenant from attending Sapper school, he said.

Curley earned the only slot in the June 2009 Sapper class for 1st BSTB.

He gave credit to his platoon sergeant, Sgt. 1st Class Demetrius Johnson, for inspiring his success at Sapper Leader Course.

“Sergeant ‘J’ mentored me since day one, and I felt obligated to do my best for him and my platoon,” Curley said.

“I’m sure this experience is going to help me succeed with my operations downrange,” he said.