{"id":10538,"date":"2025-05-09T17:31:29","date_gmt":"2025-05-09T17:31:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/?p=10538"},"modified":"2025-06-26T17:33:24","modified_gmt":"2025-06-26T17:33:24","slug":"maryland-pennsylvania-guard-soldiers-emerge-as-region-iis-best-warriors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/2025\/05\/09\/maryland-pennsylvania-guard-soldiers-emerge-as-region-iis-best-warriors\/","title":{"rendered":"Maryland, Pennsylvania Guard Soldiers Emerge as Region II\u2019s Best Warriors"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Maj. Travis Mueller, Pennsylvania National Guard<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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FORT INDIANTOWN GAP, Pa. \u2013 Sgt. Miles Crawford and Spc. Robert Ruiz-Rhoades will advance to the 2025 Army National Best Warrior Competition after winning the Region II competition here May 5-9.

Crawford, a human intelligence collector with the Maryland National Guard, won the Noncommissioned Officer of the Year category.

Ruiz-Rhoades, an intelligence analyst with the Pennsylvania National Guard, won the Soldier of the Year category.

Competition organizers and senior Pennsylvania National Guard leaders recognized all competitors during an award ceremony May 9. Each competitor received a certificate. The winners were awarded a trophy and commemorative plaque.

Maj. Gen. Laura McHugh, deputy adjutant general-Army, said they should remember the significance of qualifying for the regional competition.

\u201cThe 12 competitors represent 30,923 Soldiers in Region II. I think that is a pretty big deal. If this was intended to be easy, there would be more people here,\u201d McHugh said during the ceremony. \u201cI expect each of you to leave here with your heads held high, because I\u2019m proud of each and every one of you.\u201d

Command Sgt. Maj. Shawn Phillips, Pennsylvania\u2019s command senior enlisted leader, said the experience participants gain at the competition will help them and their fellow Soldiers.

\u201cLook at what you can do better, and how you can improve your unit,\u201d Phillips said. \u201cLead with integrity, confidence and empathy. You lead with those three things and your Soldiers will always trust you.\u201d

After a grueling week of intense competition, which tested the competitors\u2019 physical fitness, resilience and knowledge of essential Soldier skills, Crawford and Ruiz-Rhoades emerged victorious in multiple events.

Crawford was the top finisher in the NCO of the Year category for the Ranger Physical Assessment, the kayak-foot race event, land navigation, military weapons marksmanship and the medical simulation event. He credits his unit\u2019s leaders for helping him prepare for the competition, specifically his readiness NCO, Sgt. 1st Class Robert Wachtel, and his supply NCO, Sgt. Anthony Killiebrew.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cI prepared for the physical stuff on my own, doing CrossFit and going to the gym. But my unit supported me by letting me draw weapons from the supply room, doing some medical lanes, roasting me on my board questions,\u201d Crawford said. \u201cThere are a lot of great Soldiers out there, and I didn\u2019t know I was going to make it this far. It\u2019s good because you get to practice things you don\u2019t always get to practice on a drill weekend.\u201d

Ruiz-Rhoades was the top finisher in the Soldier of the Year category for the Ranger Physical Assessment, written exam, traditional weapons marksmanship and the medical simulation event. For him, preparing for the competition was not a solo endeavor. His family played a part in preparing for the competition.

\u201cHe\u2019s already a super athletic and physically fit person. He trained himself at home, mentally and physically. He went kayaking to prepare for that event. We made notecards to help him prepare for his appearance board,\u201d said his sister, Courtney Rhoades. \u201cHe makes our family very proud.\u201d

He looks forward to drawing on his family\u2019s support as he prepares for nationals.

\u201cTheir support means a lot. Without them I wouldn\u2019t be here,\u201d Ruiz-Rhoades said. \u201cTheir support keeps me motivated through the tough events and keeps me going.\u201d

The National Best Warrior Competition will occur in Maryland July 11-20.

The 12 competitors in the Region II competition came from the Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia National Guards. They were the winners of their respective states\u2019 competitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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By Maj. Travis Mueller, Pennsylvania National Guard FORT INDIANTOWN GAP, Pa. \u2013 Sgt. Miles Crawford and Spc. Robert Ruiz-Rhoades will advance to the 2025 Army National Best Warrior Competition after winning the Region II competition here May 5-9. Crawford, a human intelligence collector with the Maryland National Guard, won the Noncommissioned Officer of the Year  Read the Rest…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":161,"featured_media":10614,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/161"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10538"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10538\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10617,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10538\/revisions\/10617"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}