By Dawn Arden
Public Affairs Office
FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. (May 3, 2019) – Fort Leonard Wood is scheduled to hold its annual Best Warrior Competition Wednesday through May 10 at locations across the installation with an awards ceremony slated for 1 p.m. May 10 on Gammon Field.
Officials said 21 service members will compete in this year’s competition, vying for the titles of Drill Sergeant, NCO, Soldier, Joint Service NCO and Junior Enlisted Service Member of the Year.
According to organizers, the 2019 competition will challenge service members in both tactical and technical aspects.
“Last year it was more focused on the tactical side and not so much the technical side, so we’ve kind of balanced that out,” said Sgt. 1st Class Ryan Somerlot, Maneuver Support Center of Excellence Operations noncommissioned officer in charge.
Sgt. 1st Class Carl Pope, MSCoE Operations Directorate of Training Division NCOIC, agreed and said the MSCoE command sergeant major issued them a challenge when creating the competition.
“This year’s competition will be more physically demanding, focusing on endurance as well as mental acuity, compared to last year,” Pope said. “Command Sgt. Maj. (James) Breckinridge wanted a ‘crucible styled’ Best Warrior Competition, and we believe that is what we designed.”
Somerlot said a few of the events added will put service members in challenging situations that will require the use of both mental and physical strengths to complete.
“They’re going to be operating on minimal sleep and should expect a fast-paced competition, there’s not going to be a lot of down time,” Somerlot said. “They will be continually moving from event to event, so there’s not going to be any getting to an event and sitting around.”
Winners of the Drill Sergeant, NCO and Soldier of the Year categories will go forward to represent Fort Leonard Wood in the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command level competition later this year.
About Fort Leonard Wood
Fort Leonard Wood is a thriving and prosperous installation that has evolved from a small basic training post more than 75 years ago to a premier Army Center of Excellence that trains more than 82,000 military and civilians each year.
Fort Leonard Wood is home to the U.S Army Maneuver Support Center of Excellence and three U.S. Army schools: the U.S. Army Engineer School; U.S. Army Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear School; and the U.S. Army Military Police School. In addition to training engineer, CBRN and military police specialties for the Army, Fort Leonard Wood also provides gender-integrated in-processing and Basic Combat Training for new Soldiers.
Fort Leonard Wood also hosts and trains with the largest Marine Corps and Air Force detachments on any Army installation as well as a large Navy construction detachment.
More information about Fort Leonard Wood is at: https://home.army.mil/wood/index.php/about/mission.