Best Warrior is an annual competition overseen by the Department of the Army as a means of identifying and recognizing soldiers in active, Special Operations, National Guard and reserve components of the United States Army. Each year, each participating command sends their best enlisted soldier and non-commissioned officer to Fort Gregg-Adams to represent their unit.
During the competition, competitors are tested for their aptitude through board interviews, physical fitness tests, written exams, urban warfare simulations and other soldier tasks and drills relevant to the Army's operating environment.
In addition, Warriors will go before two selection boards composed of six senior sergeants major from across the Army. These boards, chaired by Sergeant Major of the Army Kenneth O. Preston, evaluate competitor appearance, military bearing and knowledge of critical Army topics.
The Soldier and Non-Commissioned Officer of the Year receive prestigious honors and cash awards in recognition of their achievements and represent the Army at special events throughout the year.
Competition winners
Soldier of the Year
2002 - Spc. Justin Brown 2003 - Spc. Russell Adam Burnham (MEDCOM) 2004 - Spc. Wilfredo A Mendez 2005 - Sgt. Chad Steuck 2006 - Spc. John Emmett 2007 - Cpl. Heyz Seeker 2008 - Spc. David R. Obray (USARC) 2009 - Spc. Clancey Henderson 2010 - Sgt. Sherri Gallagher 2011 - Spc. Thomas M. Hauser 2012 - Spc. Saral Shrestha 2013 - Spc. Adam Christensen 2014 - Spc. Thomas Boyd 2015 - Spc. Jared R. Tansley (USAREUR) 2016 - Spc. Robert Miller 2017 - Spc. Hazen Ham 2018 - Cpl. Matthew Hagensick 2019 - Spc. David Chambers 2020 - Sgt. James Akinola
Non-Commissioned Officer of the Year
2002 - Sgt. 1st Class Jeffery T. Stitzel 2003 - Staff Sgt. James Luby 2004 - Staff Sgt. Andrew Bullock 2005 - Sgt. Jeremy Kamphuis 2006 - Sgt. 1st Class Jason Alexander 2007 - Staff Sgt. Jason Seifert 2008 - Staff Sgt. Noyce Merino NGB 2009 - Sgt. 1st Class Aaron Beckman 2010 - Staff Sgt. Christopher McDougall 2011 - Sgt. Guy Mellow 2012 - Staff Sgt. Matthew M. Senna 2013 - Sgt. 1st Class Jason J. Manella 2014 - Sgt. 1st Class Matthew Carpenter 2015 - Staff Sgt. Andrew Fink 2016 - Sgt. 1st Class Joshua A. Moeller 2017 - Staff Sgt. Ryan C. McCarthy 2018 - Sgt. 1st Class Sean Acosta 2019 - Staff Sgt. Dakota Bowen 2020 - Sgt. 1st Class Alexander Berger
References