Photo By Staff Sgt. Hannah Kirschman | Airman 1st Class Rodney Morales from the 147th Air Support Operations Squadron, Texas...... read more read more
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BASTROP, Texas–The Texas Military Department hosted its annual Best Warrior Competition, which brings Texas Army and Air National Guardsmen together to build teamwork and showcase their capabilities.
The three-day competition held at Camp Swift in Bastrop, Texas, May 3-5, 2022, challenged Airmen and Soldiers from across the TMD to test their tactical and technical skills, including professional military knowledge, marksmanship, land navigation and physical fitness.
“In the past years it was strictly Texas Army National Guardsmen, but this year we have both Soldiers and Airmen,” said Command Sgt. Maj. Michelle Thompson, Senior Enlisted Advisor of the Texas Army National Guard. “The goal of the Best Warrior Competition is to be an inclusive event–and by that, I mean any service, any gender, any MOS, and it’s a friendly competition to showcase what our Soldiers and Airmen can do.”
In 2013 the TMD was the first National Guard state to establish a joint-force BWC. Since then, the initiative set a precedent for future competitions to highlight the importance of inter-agency training between the sister branches.
Spc. Lianette Gonzalez from the 636th Military Intelligence Battalion, Texas Army National Guard, understood the importance of comradery and teamwork, and thus trained alongside her fellow warriors to prepare for BWC.
“A lot goes into preparation for this,” said Gonzalez. “Of course, you want to do some studying, but really it just comes down to spending time actively practicing for these events. I’m very thankful I have fellow Texas National Guardsmen to support me with that.”
Through joint competitions like these, members of the TMD can improve their skills and build on existing intra-agency relationships, so that every Texas Guardsman is prepared when called upon to respond to a crisis.
“I think this event is really important, because coming here you learn how to integrate with everyone else, and you kind of get a baseline of what your fellow Guardsmen are about,” said Airman 1st Class Rodney Morales, 147th Air Support Operations Squadron, Texas Air National Guard. “It’s amazing how training is training across the services, and everyone meets the standard across the board.”
The competition affords the opportunity for Airmen and Soldiers to showcase how their training has helped them develop the knowledge and skills relevant to today’s operational environment. The competition not only tests the aptitude of these warriors, but also pushes servicemembers to continue to improve their skills and to set new standards of excellence.
“People think that this is just a competition, but the reality is, it showcases the talents that our Texas Soldiers and Airmen have,” said Thompson. “They come to the competition with skillsets, we hope to build on those skills, develop confidence and improve their readiness as a Guardsman. It also gives us an opportunity to showcase that we have some rock stars out there.”
This year’s TMD’s Best Warriors were Staff Sgt. Eric Rodriguez, Recruiting and Retention Command, for the NCOIC category and Airman 1st Class Rodney Morales, 147th Air Support Operations Squadron, for the enlisted category.
Rodriguez and second place enlisted winner, Spc. Nickalus Johnson, 176th Engineer Brigade, will represent Texas at the National Guard’s Region V competition at Camp Gruber, Oklahoma later this month.
| Date Taken: | 05.06.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 05.10.2022 16:33 |
| Story ID: | 420276 |
| Location: | BASTROP, TX, US |
| Web Views: | 246 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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