Photo By Spc. Shelby Bickmore | Utah Air Force National Guard Brig. Gen. Gene C. Buckner Utah Army National Guard...... read more read more
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Airmen and Soldiers representing all the major commands of the Utah National Guard assembled on Camp Williams Oct 20-23 to compete in the Utah National Guard Best Warrior Competition. The three-day competition is designed to test the competitors' knowledge and abilities in warrior tasks to determine the Soldier/Airman of the Year, Noncommissioned Officer of the Year, and Senior Noncommissioned Officer of the Year. The Army winners will move on to the regional competition next spring in Arizona.
“The biggest thing we want to see is eager participants, we want to see motivation,” said Master Sgt. Cole Christensen, the Utah National Guard Senior non-commissioned officer in charge of the state competition. “Utah does have a reputation in these things, and we take pride in it and we compete.”
Following in-processing, essay writing and a military review board, the competitors began testing their physical abilities with a physical fitness assessment. Fatigue set in as the competition intensified and moved deeper into Camp Williams training areas for the tactical medical care event and a radio communication test.
“Best Warrior for me is an opportunity to prove myself,” said Pfc. Jacey Jones, an analyst with the 4th Infantry Division Main Command Post Operational Detachment (MCP-OD), Utah Army National Guard. “Even though I’m just a Pfc., and kind of young, it's a nice opportunity to show people that I’m strong. It’s been a great military experience. It's been fun, stressful, but overall it’s been a great experience.”
The following day the competitors exercised their tactical skills with hand to hand combatives, repelling, shoot-houses and sniper rifle training. Additionally the participants called for artillery fire on a target. As the sun set on the last night of the competition, competitors donned their redlight headlamps and tested their abilities to navigate terrain in the dark with a night land navigation event. The competition ended with a ruck march of about 10-miles and an award ceremony.
According to Christensen, while the event is about the competitors and their abilities as warriors, the skills they gained are something they can bring back to their units.
“We really try to hit on the primary skills of shoot, move, communicate and medicate,” said Christensen. “We want to determine who the best warrior is, but we also put an emphasis on making this a unique experience. Instead of doing a basic weapons qualification we do stress shoot. We want the competitors to take the training back to the Soldiers they lead, and implement it down to the squad level.”
Each of the events presents unique challenges and opportunities for the servicemembers, however no one went in completely unaware of what was expected. Christensen explained that a major change this year compared to previous years was that a list of the events were given to participants weeks prior, and the mystery event done in years past was eliminated. Christensen added, while they didn’t give away the grading criteria, providing the events in advance gave the Airmen and Soldiers an opportunity to get better prepared for the competition.
Although the competition was physically and mentally challenging, with long hours and various tests of capabilities, the participants were motivated to compete and prove themselves. Sgt. 1st Class Scott Moeller, a National Guard Recruiter said since he joined the Utah National Guard he always wanted to compete in a best warrior competition.
“This is something I always wanted to do,” said Moeller. “Ever since I originally joined as a cannon crew member. This event has been awesome so far. I’m glad I was able to come out here and do this. Best Warrior has been a unique experience.”
While all of the competitors tried their best and competed well only one junior servicemember, one NCO and one Senior NCO took home the prize of Utah National Guard Best Warrior. This year's winners are, Airman 1st class Kalob Swank, from 151st Security Forces Squadron, Utah Air National Guard, Sgt. Luke Cloward, with the 214th Forward Support Company, 145th Field Artillery Battalion, 65th Field Artillery Brigade and 1st Sgt. Leland Slaughter, 97th Troop Command.
| Date Taken: | 10.23.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 11.17.2024 17:29 |
| Story ID: | 485497 |
| Location: | CAMP WILLIAMS, UTAH, US |
| Web Views: | 65 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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