{"id":509134,"date":"2025-07-03T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-03T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=509134"},"modified":"2025-07-03T14:35:49","modified_gmt":"2025-07-03T14:35:49","slug":"tennessee-guard-participates-in-bulgarias-best-warrior-competition-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=509134","title":{"rendered":"Tennessee Guard participates in Bulgaria\u2019s Best Warrior Competition"},"content":{"rendered":"
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VELIKO TARNOVO, Bulgaria (AFNS) — \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Members of the Tennessee Army and Air National Guard competed in the Bulgarian Armed Forces\u2019 first multinational Best Warrior Competition held at the Vasil Levski National Military University, June 23-26.<\/p>\n

The competition featured 12, five-member teams representing various military units to include the Bulgarian Armed Forces, the NATO enhanced Forward Presence Battle Group stationed in Novo Selo, the Slovenia Armed Forces, the Tennessee National Guard<\/a><\/strong>, and members of U.S. Army V Corps<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Tennessee National Guard team consisted of Army and Air National Guard Soldiers and Airmen competing together. From the Tennessee Air National Guard were\u00a0team members Tech. Sgt. Ben O\u2019Neal (competitor), and Staff Sgt. Angelo Melasecca (competitor), both from the 118th Wing Security Forces Squadron;\u00a0Master Sgt. Jesse Gullett, 118th Wing (medic); and Senior Master Sgt. Michael Brumer (coach). From the Tennessee Army National Guard were\u00a0Staff Sgt. Daniel Bullion (competitor), Volunteer Training Site; Sgt. Joshua White (competitor), Regimental Fires Squadron, 278th Armored Cavalry Regiment; Spc. Brian Hayes (competitor), Regimental Support Squadron, 278th Armored Cavalry Regiment; and\u00a0Sgt. Maj. Jamie Spicer, 30th Troop Command (coach).\u00a0
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\u201cI couldn\u2019t be prouder of our incredible team of Soldiers and Airmen who stepped up and gave their all in this joint Best Warrior Competition,\u201d Spicer said. \u201cTheir grit, discipline and teamwork are a true reflection of the values we stand for. They represent our organization with honor and set the standard for excellence.\u201d\u00a0
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Competitors were tested on both their individual skills and their ability to work as a team, overcoming physical and mental challenges while strengthening multinational partnerships.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\u201cI am truly grateful for this opportunity to compete and work alongside such incredible competitors,\u201d said O\u2019Neal, who won the Best Foreign Competitor in the competition. \u201cThis is a great experience for any Soldier or Airman looking to challenge themselves, step outside their comfort zone and create lasting memories with people you never thought you would meet.\u201d\u00a0
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The first two days consisted of familiarization training, followed by the evaluation portion of the competition. These events included multiple obstacles, testing combat and life-saving skills, marksmanship, tactical skills and overall physical fitness. Competitors ran to each station, covering more than 18 kilometers, where they were evaluated on both their speed and expertise.\u00a0
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During the awards ceremony, Bulgarian Deputy Minister of Defense Radostin Iliev presided over the event alongside Maj. Gen. Warner Ross<\/a><\/strong>, Tennessee\u2019s adjutant general, with U.S. Army Command Sgt. Maj. John T. Raines III<\/a><\/strong>, senior enlisted advisor to the chief of the National Guard Bureau, also in attendance. The Bulgarian Land Forces team placed first, the Bulgarian Military Police team placed second and the Bulgarian Joint Special Operations Command placed third.\u00a0
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\u201cThe Bulgarian Armed Forces hosted an outstanding competition,\u201d Ross said. \u201cThey provided a unique opportunity for all the competitors to test their warfighting skills and strengthen our allied partnerships through shared challenges and joint training.\u201d\u00a0
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The Tennessee National Guard and Bulgaria have shared a 32-year state partnership through the Department of Defense National Guard Bureau\u2019s State Partnership Program<\/a><\/strong>. Over the years, the Bulgarian Armed Forces have participated in the Tennessee National Guard Best Warrior Competitions.\u00a0
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\u201cCompetitions like this are exactly what our partnership is about,\u201d Ross said. \u201cI am proud of our long-standing friendship with Bulgaria and look forward to the future as we continue to prioritize modernization, boost readiness and cultivate relations to advance our joint capabilities.\u201d\u00a0
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U.S. Air Force Logo<\/title><\/p><\/div>\n<\/section><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>VELIKO TARNOVO, Bulgaria (AFNS) — \u00a0 Members of the Tennessee Army and Air National Guard competed in the Bulgarian Armed Forces\u2019 first multinational Best Warrior Competition held at the Vasil Levski National Military University, June 23-26. The competition featured 12, five-member teams representing various military units to include the Bulgarian Armed Forces, the NATO enhanced […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":108410,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-509134","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\/509134","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\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=509134"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509134\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":509135,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509134\/revisions\/509135"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/108410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=509134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=509134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=509134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}