{"id":9474,"date":"2024-05-10T19:37:28","date_gmt":"2024-05-10T19:37:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/?p=9474"},"modified":"2024-05-10T23:52:30","modified_gmt":"2024-05-10T23:52:30","slug":"national-guard-bureaus-region-il-best-warrior-winners-announced","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/2024\/05\/10\/national-guard-bureaus-region-il-best-warrior-winners-announced\/","title":{"rendered":"National Guard Bureau\u2019s Region Il Best Warrior Winners Announced"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By: Maj. Erica Mitchell, 29th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Edgewood \u2013 After four days of competition, Spc. Carter Cooper and Staff Sgt. Alexander Wilkinson-Johnson were named the National Guard Bureau\u2019s Region Il Best Warriors for 2024 in the soldier of the year and non-commissioned officer categories during the closing ceremony at Aberdeen Proving Ground-Edgewood Arsenal, Maryland, on May 10, 2024.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spc. Cooper, an infantryman in the Virginia Army National Guard, and Staff Sgt. Wilkinson-Johnson, an intelligence analyst in the Maryland Army National Guard, will be moving forward to compete in the National Best Warrior Competition in Vermont later this summer.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“This entire competition is what we do, it is what makes a Soldier a Soldier. Getting out there shooting, moving, and communicating is the baseline of what we are as Soldiers,\u201d said Staff Sgt. Alexander Wilkinson-Johnson. \u201cThe advice that stuck with me the most throughout the competition is try your best, you always have to stick to it, embrace the suck and you just gotta keep pushing it, dig deep and find that drive to charlie mike even when you don’t necessarily think you have it in you.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

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Each competitor was pushed to their limits and graded across multiple disciplines, including physical fitness, a combat water survival test, an obstacle course, marksmanship on many weapons systems, night to day land navigation, a 18.6-mile ruck march and military knowledge. Many of the activities simulated stressors Soldiers could face under combat conditions, while evaluating their adaptability and resourcefulness.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Being a warrior to me means doing what is right when no one is looking and being willing to do and try your best within everything you do,\u201d said Spc. Cooper. \u201cI joined this competition because I wanted to display the Soldier that I knew I was and this was a perfect opportunity for me to display that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

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This year’s competition was hosted by the Maryland Army National Guard and conducted with ten competitors representing their home states of Maryland, Washington, D.C. Virginia, West Virginia, Delaware and Pennsylvania.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe best thing about the Best Warrior Competition is that we will all play for the same team,\u201d said Maj. Gen. Janeen L. Birckhead, the adjutant general for Maryland. \u201cEach Soldier wants to win and represent their state at the national level, but they all know that they will serve together if called for natural disasters or overseas deployments. The camaraderie and confidence built during this difficult and grueling competition makes us all stronger and more resilient for the next challenge the National Guard will face.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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