FORT BENNING, Ga. (April 15, 2018) -- From a field of 51 teams of two Ranger-qualified service members, Team 23 from Airborne and Ranger Training Brigade won the title of "Best Ranger" for the 2018 Best Ranger Competition April 15 at Fort Benning, Georgia.
Sgts. 1st Class Anthony Allen and Joshua Rolfes of Team 23 completed three days of events that tested their physical endurance, mental agility, and technical and tactical skills April 13 through 15 as part of the competition, which included no scheduled sleep.
The David E. Grange Jr. Best Ranger Competition, organized annually by the Airborne and Ranger Training Brigade, was founded in 1982 to determine the best Ranger in the Ranger Department, but has since expanded to include all Ranger-qualified Soldiers throughout the entire Army and other willing Ranger-qualified service members from sister services.
Competitors were scored on many events, including a buddy run, a body armor run, obstacle courses, weighted carries, a swim, weapon ranges, and more on the first day April 13. After a night of marching, the teams were cut to 24, and those remaining teams competed in night stakes, the Spartan Run at Dekkar Strip and in day stakes at Todd Field for the second day April 14.
After the day stakes, the 24 teams were cut down to 16, and those teams were flown by helicopter to Camp Frank D. Merrill near Dahlonega, Georgia, where the 5th Ranger Training Battalion runs the mountain phase of the Ranger School. There they performed night orienteering, finishing to return by bus to Camp Darby at Fort Benning, where they competed in the Darby Queen obstacle course.
Their final competitive events were a water survival assessment at Victory Pond and a final buddy run back to Camp Rogers where the event began.
Points have been tallied, and the final top competitors are as follows:
-- Team 23: Sgt. 1st Class Anthony Allen, Sgt. 1st Class Joshua Rolfes, Airborne and Ranger Training Brigade
-- Team 32: Capt. Matthew Thwaites, 1st Lt. Kendall Ward, 75th Ranger Regiment
-- Team 33: 1st Lt. Jeremy Dettmer, Cpl. Tyler Taormina, 75th Ranger Regiment
-- Team 22: Sgt. 1st Class Michael Roggero, Staff Sgt. Michael Browne, ARTB
-- Team 41: 1st Lt. Chris Smith, Sgt. Aditya Singh Sehrawat, 25th Infantry Division