The Mississippi National Guard hosted its annual Best Warrior competition last week at the Camp McCain Training Center near Elliot.
Eleven Soldiers and Airmen who mastered a series of benchmarks to qualify for the statewide competition competed for the prestigious titles of Soldier of the Year and Noncommissioned Officer of the Year.
The event was largely coordinated by cadre of the Camp Shelby Joint Forces Training Center’s 154th Regional Training Institute.
1st Sgt. David Brooks of the 154th RTI said the course was designed to push competitors to their limits.
Starkville native Sgt. Ethan Scottof the 155th Armored Brigade Combat Team, headquartered in Tupelo, was one of the competitors for the title of Noncommissioned Officer of the Year.
“Anybody who has the chance to do this competition should do it,” Scott said.
Scott won the title of Soldier of the Year in 2015.
“You get to learn a lot about yourself and learn a lot about what you need to know, and also how to be a better noncommissioned officer or soldier, and how to learn to give orders and take orders,” Scott said.
Scott serves as a combat medic in the 155th ABCT and is currently mobilized at Camp Shelby with the brigade in preparation for an upcoming deployment to the Middle East.
During the four-day competition, Scott and the 10 elite competitors tested their military aptitude by conquering urban warfare simulations, weapons qualifications, board interviews, physical fitness tests, written exam and warrior tasks and battle drills.
The event concluded March 1, and winners were announced March 3 at an awards banquet during the Mississippi Army National Guard’s annual Noncommissioned Officer’s banquet at the Hilton in Jackson.
Spc. Darrell Washington, of the 184th Sustainment Command, won Soldier of the Year. For the first time, an Air Guardsman took home the title of Noncommissioned Officer of the Year. Tech. Sgt. Joshua Parker, of the Gulfport CRTC-Battlefield Airmen Center, won Noncommissioned Officer of the Year.