Photo By Staff Sgt. Breanne Donnell | Competitors of the South Dakota Army National Guard 2021 Best Warrior Competition at...... read more read more
Ten South Dakota Army National Guard soldiers competed in the state’s Best Warrior Competition at West Camp Rapid in Rapid City, Oct. 2-4.
Battalions from across the state sent soldiers to compete for the title of SDARNG’s Soldier of the Year or Noncommissioned Officer of the Year.
The soldiers are scored in a variety of physically and mentally taxing tasks and assessments. Some events are the Army Combat Fitness Test, weapons qualification, obstacle course, night land navigation, a seven-mile ruck march, and round-robin training lanes that individually assess their mental and physical limits, as well as their soldier skills and readiness.
“It has been challenging, and I felt like I did well on a lot of stuff,” said Sgt. Nathan Alexander with Joint Force Headquarters. “Some muscle memory kicked in from my prior training when I was overseas, and I was glad.”
According to Sgt. Maj. Travis Vallery, one of the event coordinators for Joint Force Headquarters, competitions like these are put on to reward soldiers for their hard work, to seek the best of the best, and to develop leaders so they can take this experience back with them to their units and be mentors and leaders there.
Once scores were tallied, Sgt. Gregory Mehlbrech, of Hartford, with the 1-147th Field Artillery Battalion, was announced as the 2021 Soldier of the Year, and Sgt. Mackenzie Harvey, of Huron, with the 152nd Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, was announced as the NCO of the Year.
“From what they relayed to us, it was really close and I’m surprised to have won,” said Harvey. “It has been a great experience.”
The winners will move on to represent the SDARNG in the Region 6 competition against soldiers from seven other states next spring in Oregon.
“This year set the mark and a great way forward,” said SDARNG State Command Sgt. Maj. Patrick Couser, while addressing the competition participants. “Thank you all for being in my squad, and I’m so proud of you.”
The other participants in this year’s competition include: Spc. Jacob Hernandez, 153rd Engineering Battalion; Spc. Zachariah Brown, 109th Regional Support Group; Spc. Lydia Raderschadt, 881st Troop Command; Spc. Aaron Hunt, 152nd Combat Sustainment Support Battalion; Sgt. Mackenzie Miiller, 1-147th: Field Artillery; Sgt. Nathan Alexander, Joint Force Headquarters; Staff Sgt. Cooper Stanforth, Training Center; and Sgt. Kimberly Meyer, 881st Troop Command.
| Date Taken: | 10.07.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 10.28.2020 12:46 |
| Story ID: | 381917 |
| Location: | SOUTH DAKOTA, US |
| Web Views: | 93 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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