Photo By Pfc. Ariana Smith | U.S. Soldiers, Staff Sgt. Coy Thomas, Sgt. Kristian Hughes, Spc. David Mendoza, Pfc....... read more read more
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HOHENFELS TRAINING AREA, Germany – Staff Sgt. Coy L. Thomas, an Infantryman assigned to 1st Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment (1-4 IN), led his squad during the U.S. Army Europe and Africa (USAREUR-AF) Best Squad Competition to second place and was selected as the competition's Top Non-Commissioned Officer.
Thomas was the Non-Commissioned Officer in charge of the 1-4 IN squad during the Competition, which was hosted in the Grafenwoehr Training Area, Germany, from Aug 19th, 2025 to Aug. 28th, 2025.
The team consisted of Sgt. David Mendoza, Pfc. Joseph Brenna, Pfc. Robert Caldwell, Infantrymen assigned to 1-4 IN and Sgt. Kristian Hughes, a Mortarmen assigned to 1-4 IN.
“With any new team, everybody has to figure out the strengths and weaknesses for the team and with the amount of time we had, we were able to figure that out to make the best team we could have,” said Thomas. “You keep them learning, you keep them doing physical, hard events and you'll get the result you're looking for.”
The team worked together to train for multiple events such as weapons qualifications, a 12-mile ruck march, day-and-night land navigation and tactical lanes designed to simulate real-world combat scenarios. Thomas used his knowledge to help lead his team to complete these events to the best of their abilities.
“I think having Staff Sgt. Thomas was a great thing due to the fact of his knowledge and him being able to spread that knowledge across the formation and our squad, was a very big advantage and him being able to break down confusing things was a big help for us,” said Hughes.
“He’s a great mentor to be underneath, especially at a competitive level,” said Caldwell. “He’s also a mentor that you can reach out to and he’ll be able to help guide you in ways that can gain progression within your own career.”
The squad would use this knowledge for the next 10 days to compete against 9 other teams from across Europe and Africa. They were fighting between 1st and 2nd place for a majority of the competition. They ended up getting 2nd place in a close finish behind V Corps.
During the award ceremony, the team was shocked to find out that their squad leader, Staff Sgt. Thomas was awarded as the Top NCO for the whole competition.
“When they called my name, I was just dumbfounded,” said Thomas. “I don't think I did anything crazy, but I was invested, knew what had to be done and in all truthfulness, I was completely surprised and honored at the same time.”
“We were all very happy to see somebody for our formation get recognized at the USAEUR-AF level,” said Hughes. “He definitely deserved it, seeing the amount of work he was putting in for the competition and I'm really glad he got recognized for that,” said Brennan.
“Definitely deserved and well earned. We knew the type of NCO he was, and just seeing him up there and getting recognized for that was a great boost for all of us,” said Mendoza. “Knowing that all the hard work we put in and all the hard work we saw him put in and that it got recognized at that level, was great to see.”
“I knew he was going to get it off the bat,” said Caldwell. “He put us under his wing throughout the whole train-up process and how he conducted himself through the competition. So when he got it, I was excited because he deserved it.”
The team felt nothing but determination and pride from their NCO. They are continuing to train towards the overall goal of doing even better at the next competition and take first place.
| Date Taken: | 10.16.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 10.16.2025 04:25 |
| Story ID: | 550192 |
| Location: | HOHENFELS, BAYERN, DE |
| Web Views: | 54 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, JMRC Soldier named USAREUR-AF Best Squad Competitions Best NCO, by SGT Collin Mackall, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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