BRAGGS, Okla. – Pauls Valley, Oklahoma native, Staff Sgt. Heath Richardson, gunnery sergeant with 160th Field Artillery, 45th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, Oklahoma Army National Guard, won the Oklahoma Army National Guard’s 2018 Best Warrior Competition held at Camp Gruber Training Center Nov. 9-11.
Soldiers selected for the 2018 Best Warrior Competition engage in a three-day event, challenging and assessing each competitor’s abilities through rigorous and physically demanding obstacles, which are designed to assess them in the areas of physical fitness, land navigation, warrior tasks, essay writing and weapons qualification.
Richardson was selected amongst many other Oklahoma Army National Guard Soldiers within his unit to compete in the competition. Richardson’s proficiency in all portions of the competition earned him the title of the 2018 Oklahoma National Guard Noncommissioned Officer of the Year.
“I’m honored to be here,” Richardson said. “I’m proud to be representing my battalion.”
Richardson will advance to the regional Best Warrior Competition later this year. Winners of the regional competition will then move onto the nationwide Best Warrior Competition held at Camp Gruber Training Center in Summer 2019.