{"id":13550,"date":"2023-06-02T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-06-02T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=13550"},"modified":"2023-06-04T19:50:26","modified_gmt":"2023-06-04T19:50:26","slug":"virginia-west-virginia-guardsmen-are-regional-best-warriors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=13550","title":{"rendered":"Virginia, West Virginia Guardsmen are Regional Best Warriors"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n Virginia National Guard Staff Sgt. Dan Abbott, right, and West Virginia National Guard Spc. Bret Williams took top honors in the five-day Army National Guard Region II Best Warrior Competition May 19, 2023, at Fort Barfoot, Virginia. Eleven ARNG NCOs and Soldiers representing Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia participated in the five-day competition. (U.S. National Guard photo by Mike Vrabel)
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FORT BARFOOT, Va. – Virginia National Guard Staff Sgt. Dan Abbott and West Virginia National Guard Spc. Bret Williams took top honors in the five-day Army National Guard Region II Best Warrior Competition May 15-19.<\/p>\n

Abbott, a 12N horizontal construction engineer assigned to Fort Barfoot, was named Region II Noncommissioned Officer of the Year, and Williams, a 12W carpentry and masonry specialist assigned to the 922nd Engineer Detachment, was named Region II Soldier of the Year. West Virginia National Guard Staff Sgt. Avery Liller and Pennsylvania National Guard Spc. Nicolas Shaffer were named runners-up in their respective categories.<\/p>\n

Eleven ARNG NCOs and Soldiers representing Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia competed, testing their physical and mental strength, stamina and endurance.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have the utmost respect for these guys,\u201d said Command Sgt. Maj. Irving Reed Jr., the Virginia Army National Guard command sergeant major. \u201cWe threw a lot of stuff at them this week and they dealt with it. I\u2019m extremely proud of each and every one of them. Based upon what we saw, I think we\u2019re going to be strong going to nationals. I think we\u2019re sending two strong candidates, and who knows what might happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

The competition began with a written exam the day the Soldiers and NCOs from the region arrived at Fort Barfoot. The next day, competitors endured a 13-mile ruck march and Army warrior Tasks, including a grenade throw, communications, medical and weapons tests. Contestants then traveled to Virginia State University in Ettrick to conduct a combat water survival test.<\/p>\n

The next morning, the NCOs and Soldiers conducted a physical fitness challenge and a timed obstacle course. Later, the group tackled day and night land navigation.<\/p>\n

On the last two days of the event, the group competed in a timed multi-weapon challenge and conducted appearance boards before the recognition ceremony.<\/p>\n

Abbott, who placed first in the physical fitness challenge, the multi-weapon event, land navigation and the confidence course, said it takes more than physical prowess to be successful in this type of competition.<\/p>\n

\u201cPhysical preparedness was huge, and honestly, a huge part of it was mental toughness,\u201d said Abbott. \u201cIt\u2019s just being determined that you\u2019re going to succeed no matter how bad it hurts. A competition that runs at this level \u2014there\u2019s no way that you\u2019re going to be so physically prepared that it\u2019s not going to break you off. These are built to break Soldiers down; that\u2019s the whole idea.\u201d<\/p>\n

Williams, who finished the ruck march with the fastest time and performed strongly in the other events, credited his train-up for preparing him to win Soldier of the Year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the best thing that helped me was the ability to get on ADOS orders before the week and really train up with my NCO,\u201d said Williams. \u201cHe really pushed me to my limits while we trained. I did a lot of studying, physical activity and some shooting and land nav.\u201d<\/p>\n

Williams and Abbott will represent Region II and their states at the national competition in Alaska in July.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m beyond excited,\u201d said Williams. \u201cI\u2019m 25 years old, I\u2019ve been in the state for 25 years, I love West Virginia, and I\u2019m beyond excited.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very excited,\u201d said Abbott. \u201cI moved to Virginia about five years ago, and I love this state. I\u2019m very excited to go to Alaska and show them something.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more National Guard news<\/a><\/p>\n

National Guard Facebook<\/a><\/p>\n

National Guard Twitter<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Virginia National Guard Staff Sgt. Dan Abbott, right, and West Virginia National Guard Spc. Bret Williams took top honors in the five-day Army National Guard Region II Best Warrior Competition May 19, 2023, at Fort Barfoot, Virginia. Eleven ARNG NCOs and Soldiers representing Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia participated […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13552,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13550","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13550","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13550"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13550\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13553,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13550\/revisions\/13553"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13552"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}