Staff Sgt. Dominique Cooper, squad leader, 110th Military Police Company, 759th MP Battalion, plots coordinates on a map during the call for fire portion of the warrior lanes testing as part of the 4th Infantry Division and Fort Carson Best Warrior Competition May 24, 2016. (Photo by Staff Sgt. Grady T. Jones)
By Sgt. 1st Class Tre Marris
4th Infantry Division Public Affairs Office
Competitions are held everywhere to try and find out which team or person is the best at one event or another. Soldiers and noncommissioned officers at Fort Carson are no different.
Ten Soldiers and NCOs from across 4th Infantry Division and Fort Carson participated in the Best Warrior Competition May 23-25, 2016, to determine who would represent the installation and division at the next higher level competition.
Soldiers and NCOs were tested in multiple events over the course of three days. Events included the standard Army Physical Fitness Test, written essay, day and night land navigation, an obstacle course, road march followed by a stress shoot, multiple warrior tasks, battle drills and even appearing before a formal board.
In the end, Staff Sgt. Dominique Cooper, squad leader, 110th Military Police Company, 759th MP Battalion, was named the NCO of the year and Spc. Jose Howard, forward observer, Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 3rd Battalion, 29th Field Artillery Regiment, 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 4th Inf. Div., was named the Soldier of the year.
“Winning means I get to represent my unit at different levels and show myself and others what we are made of as Soldiers,” Cooper said. “I’m happy I get to put division on my back and represent (it) at III Corps.”
Although the competition is an individual event, participants still maintained the teamwork attitude, hoping each other would succeed no matter the task.
“This whole competition was a great atmosphere all the way around,” said Howard. “I honestly think we all wanted each other to come out on top. This was great for teambuilding for all of us.”
Both winners will now start preparing for the next competition and do so knowing the skill level of the competitors at the next level will be tougher.
“Competing against the best of the best will be a good measure to see how far I have come,” Howard said. “I know it isn’t going to be easy, but I want to step up and face this head on and represent this division as best I can.”
Howard and Cooper will move on and represent the division and the installation at the III Corps competition at Fort Hood, Texas.