Local Army man earns huge honor

A big honor for an army sergeant on the Central Coast after a nation-wide search.

“So I wanted to make sure that the future for us is well trained, and also well equipped for the task so that way I know I can rest easy knowing that I have some other torch bearers left in my stead,” said “Platoon Sgt. of the Year,” Army Staff Sgt. Bryan Ivery.

Those are the kind of things you might expect to hear from the US Army’s Platoon Sergeant of the Year. This year, that honor belongs to Staff Sergeant Bryan Ivery, a 13-year member of the Army, currently stationed at the Presidio of Monterey. Ivery takes new recruits just out of basic training and trains them for all that’s involved in being part of the Defense Language Institute. Now, as Platoon Sergeant of the Year, he’ll be helping out with that on bases across the country.

“Now I just feel it’s my duty to continue to expand upon this opportunity and maximize it to the fullest in being able to go from affecting hundreds to going to directly being able to affect thousands and hundreds of thousands moving forward over my next assignment as platoon sgt, of the year,” said Ivery.

Ivery beat out other staff sergeants around the country for the honor for his skills and leadership. He also speaks three languages.. English, Spanish, and Russian. He’ll be stationed at Fort Eustis in Virginia with his wife and almost two-year-old daughter within the next few weeks. There he’ll be promoted to Sergeant First Class.