Soldiers compete in Best Warrior Competition on Fort Carson

Soldiers at Fort Carson are competing for bragging rights at the annual Best Warrior Competition.

Testing their physical readiness, marksmanship, and many other skills, soldiers from Fort Carson are trying to prove they are the best. Sgt. Brian Mitchell and PFC Eian Kennedy are two of this year’s competitors. They say despite the pain, this is an incredible opportunity.

Kennedy said, “Set myself apart from my near peers. Come out here and compete against not only other soldiers but NCOs that are standing next to me the whole time.”

Mitchell added, “If it were easy then no one would be proud of it. So, whoever ends up winning is going to feel very proud because this is a very hard competition and there is a lot of good competitors.”

On Friday, competitors went on a 12-mile ruck march before the mystery competition in combatives.

One of the instructors, SSgt. Evan Knode, said, “It’s a four-day event, they began on Tuesday doing ranges from shooting, APFT fitness test first thing at 5 o’clock in the morning. They’ve done casualty call to fires, obstacle course and now combative as well.”

Friday is the last day in the competition and soldiers have been competing since Tuesday. Both Mitchell and Kennedy said the grind has been worth it and hope that in the end they can be called the top warrior.

“It would feel definitely worth everything we have been through the last couple days, it’d be amazing,” said Kennedy.

Mitchell said, “I love this job and I want to be the best, so if I win that would mean the world to me.”

The competitors will have one more competition on Friday night, and a winner will be declared on Monday.