Sgt. Cepeda is currently deployed in Iraq with the Enhanced Combat Aviation Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, an aviation unit from Fort Riley, Kansas.
While deployed in Iraq, Cepeda, who held a specialist rank at the time, competed with six soldiers from his battalion and won the Soldier of the Year competition held on Sept. 29, 2010.
After his promotion to sergeant rank, Cepeda was chosen to participate in the NCO, or noncommissioned officer, of the Year competition held on Nov. 7 in Camp Taji, where 60 other deployed U.S. troops were tested in a full spectrum of combat skill challenges.
Cepeda was one of the brigade’s top five competitors.
According to Command Sgt. Maj. Jim Thomson, the senior NCO for the brigade, “Today’s competition was put together to select the NCO and the Soldier of the year for 2010 for the Enhanced Combat Aviation Brigade. We’ve got over four thousand soldiers in this brigade, and we wanted to do something that was challenging and fun that would select the best of the best.”
On Nov. 20, Cepeda was a part of the brigade’s first graduating class from the Demon Academy, a seven-day program designed to develop the full spectrum of leadership skills for future noncommissioned officers.
Soldiers attending the academy are taught and mentored in both combat and noncombat aspects of military leadership.
Classes include physical fitness, communication skills, resiliency training, risk management, weapons training, leadership philosophies, map reading, and military history.
Cepeda is the son of the late Luis M. Cepeda (Apong) and Guadalupe M. Cepeda. He is married to Lei Ogumoro-Uludong and has a son, Kelvin D. Cepeda Jr.
