Family, freedom and serving his country are what Staff Sgt. Zackary Filip sees as his rewards for military service.

The Denton native received a more tangible award Wednesday when he was named the Army Times 2010 Soldier of the Year.

Filip was presented with the award at an event in Washington, D.C., after U.S. Rep. Michael Burgess, R-Lewisville, escorted him to the stage.

“It’s definitely a big honor,” Filip said by phone Wednesday from Washington.

Filip said he was nominated for the distinction by a former subordinate, Spc. Robert Langley.

“I was his squad leader when we were in Afghanistan. He’s a great soldier and needed me to motivate him to push himself a little harder,” Filip said.

With the sergeant’s help, Langley is on his way to becoming a noncommissioned officer himself, Filip said.

“He told me he thought a lot of things I did were great and he wrote out a narrative to the Army Times,” Filip said. “That ended up leading me through the selection process.”

The newspaper’s interviewers asked Filip about a range of topics, including where he was from, his family, what he has done in his five years of military service and, in particular, what he did at Fort Hood in November.

Filip was at Fort Hood’s Soldier Readiness Processing Center when Maj. Nidal Hasan allegedly began gunning down the people inside.

At the awards ceremony Wednesday, Gen. George Casey praised Filip’s valor, especially in responding to the Fort Hood incident.

“He took off his belt and put a tourniquet on [Sgt. Kimberly Munley’s] leg and is credited with saving her life,” said Casey, the Army chief of staff. “Without regard for his safety, he went into the building — still not knowing if it was safe or not — and began treating soldiers.”

Filip, who is a medic, recalled the event as “a horrible, terrible experience.”

Still, he said, he was glad to join a number of other medical personnel in caring for the wounded.

“There were many heroes that day,” he said.

Burgess also praised Filip’s valor.

“Certainly the fact that he’s a medic is not lost on me,” Burgess said. “He talked about his experience in Fort Hood last November. He thought he was walking upon a very realistic training exercise. And in just moments, he had to go from zero to 60 to react quickly to save someone’s life — and perform the rest of that day without regard for his own safety.”

Filip said the call notifying him that he was the Army Times Soldier of the Year was like getting the wind knocked out of him.

“There weren’t really words to describe how happy I was,” he said. “I thanked God right then and there. I called and thanked my wife. Without God and her, I wouldn’t be where I am right now.”

Filip said his oldest son is with him for the summer and is happy for his father’s award. Even more so, Filip said, because the boy can now read and loves to read stories about his dad.

Having never been to Washington before, Filip said he was enjoying that aspect of the honor.

“Seeing all these buildings and walking around here, it’s really motivating,” he said.

Filip spent some time at various memorials for soldiers and paid his respects to them.

“Those are the guys. … I’m standing on their shoulders; they paved the path for me,” he said.

Filip said the honor and others received over the years are just a bonus as he serves his country and mankind.

“Getting all these extra awards I have gotten over the years is just icing on the cake,” he said.


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