U.S. Army captain and helicopter pilot David “Buck” Sarrette, son of David and Kathleen Sarrette of Bainbridge, earned the 2008 Company Commander of the Year Award for his leadership in Iraq.

He earned the award for his efforts in bringing his 50-man company, Fox Company 2-1, to the prestigious Company of the Year Award. Fox Company, part of the 1st Infantry Division’s Combat Aviation Brigade, was stationed at Camp Speicher in Tikrit, Iraq.

Capt. Sarrette recently returned from his second tour of duty in Iraq. During his first tour, he piloted a Chinook helicopter in the mountainous Mosul area, and in his second tour, he commanded the aviation company in addition to his pilot duties.

He has been reassigned from Fort Riley, Kan., to Fort Rucker, Ala., where he will report for a three-year stint on April 1.

Capt. Sarrette, a 1996 graduate of Bainbridge High School and 2000 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy, is a former soccer and cross country captain at Bainbridge High School where he got his military start in Col. Gary Breedlove’s BHS Air Force Junior ROTC program.

He and his wife, Nicole, an Army warrant officer who has flown Apache helicopters in Iraq, have a 1-year-old son, Cole Tucker Sarrette.