South Dakota National Guard's top soldiers for 2007 came to the Guard by very different paths.

Sgt. Shannon Crane of Summerset was named Noncommissioned Officer of the Year after a state board review Jan. 26, and Pfc. Kevin King of Rapid City was named Soldier of the Year.

Crane and King will now advance to the regional competition at Fort Harrison, Mont., May 16-21.

Crane, who turns 36 this month, enlisted in the U.S. Army after graduating from Spearfish High School in 1990. She joined for two reasons. "I wanted to see the world," Crane said. "The second reason was our family didn't have money to send me to college, and I didn't want to get overwhelmed in debt."

The military has since become her career. Crane was deployed during Desert Storm, where she drove trucks, then joined the Guard after her Army discharge in 1992. She went back into the Army from 1997 to 1998.

Crane then returned to being a civilian for five years, working as a legal secretary and in other jobs while raising her son, who is now 9.

Then, came Sept. 11, 2001.

"It just made me feel kind of helpless in a way, that I wasn't contributing," Crane said. It prompted her to return to the Guard in 2003. "For me, I think just wearing the uniform every day is a way of contributing."

Crane contributed even more when she was deployed in 2006 to Iraq, where she worked in public affairs. Since returning home last June, she has worked full-time in the personnel department for Joint Force Headquarters in Rapid City. She is also taking online business classes.

Crane said she was shocked but thrilled to win the state competition. She's already studying for the regional contest. "That one's going to take a little more work," she said.

Pfc. King took a very different route to the Guard. The Philip native was one semester away from an environmental engineering degree at South Dakota School of Mines & Technology when he began having doubts about his career choice.

His friend Alex Baldwin, who had just returned from a tour of duty in Iraq with the Nebraska National Guard, suggested the Guard. And last February, Baldwin went with King to see a recruiter.

"About five minutes before I left the recruiter's office I decided this was what I wanted to do," King said.

Getting money for college was one factor. Also, "I just wanted a change in my life," said King, who is now with the 109th Regional Support Group at Camp Rapid. "So far, it's been the best decision that I've made in my life."

King is still a full-time student but now majors in political science at Black Hills State University. He also works two jobs (including a weekend busboy job he is holding for his little brother, who broke his leg sledding).

Being a soldier has changed the way King views everything - including himself. When he looks in the mirror, King, who is Oglala Lakota, no longer sees one man. "I'm looking at hundreds of years of warrior society looking back at me," he said.

He said he is proud to represent South Dakota's enlisted soldiers in Montana. And King, who is known for his positive attitude, is already training for the grueling national competition to be held at Fort Benning, Ga., in August.

King has also been accepted into the Guard's Officer Candidate School.

After that?

"When I grow up, I'd like to be governor," he said, grinning.

How are they chosen?

The South Dakota National Guard's state competition for Soldier of the Year factors in physical fitness and other tests, but it hinges on a board interview in which candidates are questioned about diverse subjects that could include the military chain of command and current events. Competitors who reach the state level have already won top-soldier honors at the company, battalion and major command levels.

Specialist Randi Frank of Rapid City won the regional contest in 2006.

Contact Heidi Bell Gease at 394-8419 or heidi.bell@rapidcityjournal.com