Two military policemen based in Germany — one in Stuttgart, the other in Garmisch — have been named Installation Management Command-Europe’s soldier and noncommissioned officer of the year.

Staff Sgt. Edmund Whipple from U.S. Army Garrison Stuttgart, and Spc. Marco Garced from USAG Garmisch will represent IMCOM-Europe at a worldwide competition next month at Fort A.P. Hill, Va., according to a Wednesday press release from IMCOM-Europe.

Whipple, 40, and the oldest NCO in the competition, was quoted in the release as saying the younger participants "kept me on my toes."

"Going up against the younger guys made me focus at Graf," said Whipple, referring to the three days of actual competition at USAG Grafenwöhr, Germany, earlier this month.

While at Grafenwöhr, participating soldiers were measured through land-navigation exercises, weapons qualification and written exams, as well as physical fitness tests, the release said.

Whipple, who has received a Bronze Star Medal and Purple Heart, is from Anderson, Ind.. He has been in Stuttgart for 2½ years. Garced, 21, of White Plains, N.Y., has served in Garmisch for three years, where he participates in the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program for Department of Defense Dependents Schools students, the release stated.

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