{"id":414515,"date":"2025-04-15T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-15T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=414515"},"modified":"2025-04-16T05:23:39","modified_gmt":"2025-04-16T05:23:39","slug":"swedish-soldiers-compete-in-ny-guard-competition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=414515","title":{"rendered":"Swedish Soldiers Compete in NY Guard Competition"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n Swedish Army Corporal Simon Drie Runnander receives an award from New York Army National Guard Command Sgt. Major Edwin Garris, to mark his participation in the New York National Guard Best Warrior Competition, during a dinner at the United States Military Academy at West Point on April 10, 2025. Drie Runnander and Pvt. Jasper Petersson took part in the annual Best Warrior event as part of the New York National Guard State Partnership Program.
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CAMP SMITH TRAINING SITE, N.Y. \u2014 Two soldiers from the Swedish Armed Forces competed with New York Army National Guard troops during the 2025 Best Warrior Competition last week.<\/p>\n

Swedish Cpl. Simon Drie Runnander and Pvt. Jesper Andersson participated in the multi-day event that tested Soldiers\u2019 technical skills, physical readiness and ability to perform under pressure. The competition was held April 7-11 at the Camp Smith Training Site near Peekskill, New York.<\/p>\n

Their visit was part of the Department of Defense National Guard State Partnership Program. The New York National Guard and Sweden established a partnership in 2024.<\/p>\n

Events throughout the week covered a range of tasks, including simulated weapons handling, patrol base operations, tactical communications and casualty care.<\/p>\n

Participants also appeared before a dress uniform board and competed in a live-fire range round-robin using M4 carbines and M9 pistols.<\/p>\n

Drie Runnander and Andersson are members of the Swedish Army\u2019s 1st Infantry Brigade.<\/p>\n

Andersson has served in the Swedish Army for four years as a rifleman and has been trained as a Carl Gustaf anti-tank weapon specialist. He has competed in the Swedish Army\u2019s tactical service shooting competition.<\/p>\n

Drie Runnander is a forward observer who has been in the Swedish Army for seven years. He has competed in the Swedish military\u2019s version of the U.S. Army Best Warrior event.<\/p>\n

The Swedish soldiers said the experience added to their professional development and contributed to ongoing cooperation between the two forces.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis has been a good chance for us to train in a different setting,\u201d Drie Runnander said. \u201cWe\u2019ve picked up new techniques and learned more about how the U.S. military prepares its Soldiers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis has been one of the toughest training experiences I\u2019ve ever done, but also one of the most rewarding,\u201d Drie Runnander said. \u201cWorking side by side with American Soldiers pushed me outside my comfort zone. I\u2019ve learned a lot that I\u2019ll take back to Sweden.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to core competition events, participants also had the opportunity to complete the German Armed Forces Proficiency Badge requirements that included a 100-meter swim in uniform, a 1,000-meter sprint, pistol qualification, a flexed arm hang, and a 12-mile ruck march while carrying a full combat load.<\/p>\n

Andersson said the event offered more than physical challenges.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing here gives us a better understanding of how American Soldiers train and work together,\u201d he said. \u201cIt also allows us to share how we operate in Sweden.\u201d<\/p>\n

Andersson also said that while Soldiers competed against each other, he appreciated the comradery.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels like we are all a team. We all help each other, we all learn from each other,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have really enjoyed it. All of the American Soldiers and officers have been really, really nice,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest difference between the American military and Swedish is just the scale,\u201d Andersson said. \u201cThere are so many people, so it is a little bit overwhelming, but it is really cool.\u201d<\/p>\n

New York\u2019s partnership with Sweden is one of more than 100 similar relationships fostered globally through the State Partnership Program, which pairs U.S. National Guard units with military forces in partner nations to strengthen interoperability and regional cooperation.<\/p>\n

Since the agreement began, New York Guard personnel and Swedish military representatives have conducted staff talks and small-unit engagements, with plans for more bilateral exchanges in the future. New York also has State Partnership Program relationships with South Africa and Brazil.<\/p>\n

The Best Warrior Competition provides a platform for identifying top-performing Soldiers and enhancing coordination and trust between allied forces.<\/p>\n

Inviting the Swedish Army to send competitors to the Best Warrior event creates networking and teamwork opportunities, said Lt. Col. Melanie Padilla, the New York National Guard\u2019s State Partnership Program director. Both parties benefit by exchanging knowledge and building familiarity with different training methods and standards, she said.<\/p>\n

Hosting the Swedish soldiers at the competition was essential to the partnership, New York Army National Guard Command Sgt. Major Edwin Garris said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to inspire them to return and say, \u2018Hey, we need to train with these elements. We need to come to the U.S. to come here and for us to go there,\u2019\u201d Garris said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to continue collaborating and building these bridges between our countries as true allies,\u201d Garris said.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.nationalguard.mil<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TheNationalGuard<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/x.com\/USNationalGuard<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.nationalguard.mil\/Leadership\/Joint-Staff\/J-5\/International-Affairs-Division\/State-Partnership-Program\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Swedish Army Corporal Simon Drie Runnander receives an award from New York Army National Guard Command Sgt. Major Edwin Garris, to mark his participation in the New York National Guard Best Warrior Competition, during a dinner at the United States Military Academy at West Point on April 10, 2025. Drie Runnander and Pvt. Jasper Petersson […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":414517,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-414515","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\/414515","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=414515"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414515\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":414518,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414515\/revisions\/414518"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/414517"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=414515"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=414515"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=414515"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}