The well-shined boots, the perfect marches, the fittest figure.

Staff Sgt. Michael F. Johnston is the U.S. Army's new standard bearer.

The Lincoln Pius X High School graduate was recently named 2009 Drill Sergeant of the Year after a week of exhausting competition against six other drill sergeants.

"And, of course, I was just ecstatic," said his mother, Joan Johnston, of Lincoln.

Her son has been to Afghanistan twice, but he spent the last year and a half teaching recruits the ups and downs of combat.

Sometimes he has to yell, he said in a phone interview from Fort Benning, Ga., but his job and the competition are about more than just getting red in the face.

"A lot of people think it's a competition to see who can yell the loudest," he said. "There's times where you're going to have to yell … but when it's time to train and it's time to be professional - that's the key."

Judges for the competition at Fort Monroe, Va., tested physical fitness, knowledge of standard operating procedure, skill with weapons and hand-to-hand combat, ability to navigate - even leadership when dealing with a suicidal soldier.

Mostly, though, they tested participants as teachers of standard Army practices, which Sgt. Johnston called "skill Level 1 tasks."

"He builds and molds these people into great characters," his mother said.

Michael Johnston joined the Army in 2001, the same year he graduated from Pius. He was a team leader on his first overseas deployment and has been an authority figure since.

"I was only not in a leadership position for about 18 months, including basic training," he said.

He and and his wife and two daughters- they're expecting a third child in February - live at Fort Benning, but they're moving in August to Fort Monroe, where Johnston will be an assistant to the Army's Training and Doctrine Command.

He comes from a military family, with a brother who's been to Iraq and Afghanistan three times, and a father whose Navy career inspired Johnston to become a soldier.

The family moved about 18 times, settling in Lincoln in 1999.

"Michael grew up as a Navy - I don't like the term brat," his mother said. "I'm very proud of him. … I know that he has a very important role."

Reach Zach Pluhacek at 473-7234 or zpluhacek@journalstar.com.