By Spc. Daniel Balkovic: For three grueling days, 15 Nebraska Army National Guard Soldiers and one member of the Czech Armed Forces competed in the annual Best Warrior Competition at the Greenlief Training Site, April 12-15, near Hastings, Nebraska.
The competitors had to endure not only the physical and emotional challenges of the competition, but also the unpredictable and ever-changing weather of an untypical Nebraska spring. Despite starting on a warm spring day, the majority of the weekend’s competition was plagued by high winds, rain and ice.
In spite of these additional factors, one Soldier and one noncommissioned officer distinguished themselves as a cut above the rest.
By the time the dust – or in this case, snow and icy rain — had cleared, Spc. Devon Thompson, Troop, 1-134th Cavalry, and Staff Sgt. Dustin Knoell, 209th Regiment (Regional Training Institute), had established themselves atop the medal stand.
According to Thompson, a 2014 Lincoln North Star graduate and Lincoln native, the hardest part of the competition was simply dealing with the difference in experience.
“I was just kind of intimidated; I was a private and I knew that the people I would be going up against would have more knowledge than me,” he said.
Fortunately Thompson had an ace up his sleeve. Every Soldier who competes in the Best Warrior competition is aided in their quest by the help of their sponsor. In the case of Thompson, he had help from one of the best.
Sgt. Calvin Koziol, 23, of Albion, Nebraska, was Thompson’s sponsor this year, and he is no stranger to the competition. Koziol is the National Guard’s 2016 National Best Warrior title holder. He said he enjoyed helping Thompson gain some insight on what was required to take home the gold from Hastings.
“I like it because I can push that knowledge that I learned from competing onto my competitor,” said Koziol. “Private Thompson is an excellent Soldier; I saw it right away (that) maybe he could succeed, maybe he could go farther than I did.”
Like Thompson, Knoell, a native of West Point, Nebraska, earned the state noncommissioned officer title in his very first year of competing in the Best Warrior competition. He said he knew that the contest would be hard fought.
“It really was anyone’s ballgame, so I just took it event by event and hoped that I would end up on top,” Knoell said.
For anyone who hopes to place first, a lot of preparation and discipline is needed. Both Thompson and Knoell began training both individually and with their respective sponsors months ago. For Thompson, having Koziol as his sponsor made the competition take on a different perspective.
“Other than being told I had to do it by Sergeant Koziol, I just knew it was something I would benefit from. And having Koziol as a sponsor, I knew I had big boots to fill,” Thompson said.
“We did a lot of ruck marches and running. We would go to Camp Ashland and work with the weapon systems,” he added.
Having just had the flu recently, it turned out that the hardest part for Thompson was the PT test. “I had recently been sick and the PT test just killed me,” Thompson said.
Outside of the physical tests like PT, ruck marches, land navigation, etc., a major component of the state Best Warrior Competition revolves around the academic side of being a Soldier. Knowing drill and ceremony commands, board reviews, and even taking written exams are also just as important, said both winners.
This was definitely the case for Knoell and his sponsor, Staff Sgt. Chris Moulton.
“We started training on and off about three months ago, but really hit it hard in the last month-and-a-half,” Knoell said.
“A big thing that we really focused on was the history of the NCO and worked quite a bit on the board,” Knoell added. “I knew it would be one of my weak points.”
While the competition is an extremely difficult and arduous task for all of the competitors and their sponsors, it is also fun and exciting, as both of this year’s winners pointed out. “It was all fun, honestly everything that we did, the whole competition was just a lot of fun,” Knoell said.
“It was just a great experience, a great learning experience, win or lose, everybody came out of this with something,” Thompson said, who adding his favorite part was actually night land navigation.
“I was just feeling real good about it.”
Moving forward, both Knoell and Thompson headed to Camp Joseph Robinson, Arkansas, to compete in the regional round of the Best Warrior competition, May 14-18.