ETHAN ALLEN FIRING RANGE, Vt. –
For five arduous days, Sgt. Carter Cooper, one of the top National Guard Soldiers in the nation, tackled challenge after challenge at the 2024 Army National Guard Best Warrior Competition, held Aug. 4-8, 2024, at the Ethan Allen Firing Range near Jericho, Vermont. Cooper was one of 14 competitors culled from the nation’s seven regions. He represented the Virginia Army National Guard and Region II alongside Staff Sgt. Alexander Wilkinson-Johnson from the Maryland National Guard.
“These are the best Soldiers in the country here, so this is the steepest competition you’re ever going to go against,” Cooper said. “You do your best, stay resilient and you work as hard as you possibly can.”
For Cooper, 2024 has been a year marked by relentless effort. His first challenge of the year came when he successfully earned a spot in the Scout Platoon with 1st Battalion, 116th Infantry Regiment, 116th Infantry Brigade Combat Team. Recognizing his potential, his company leadership nominated him to compete in the Best Warrior Competition.
“I first met Sgt. Cooper when he tried out for the Scout Platoon,” said 1st Sgt. Benjamin Lehmer, Cooper’s first sergeant, who said his first impression of Cooper was a good one. “He’s a really young kid, but he’s super moldable, very coachable, and those are all the attributes I’m looking for. You see this young Soldier who is just so eager to get after it, eager to put in more work, to keep trying and who just rolls with the punches. Nothing ever gets him down.”
Cooper went on to win Best Warrior Competitions at the battalion and brigade levels before advancing again to claim victory at the state competition, held in March at Fort Barfoot. After a brief break to attend Army Mountain Warfare School in Vermont, he competed at the Region II Best Warrior Competition, hosted by the Maryland Army National Guard in May. There, he secured yet another win and shifted his focus to preparing to face off against the nation’s top Army National Guard Soldiers at the national match.
“It’s been a really long process,” explained Sgt. 1st Class Michael Wilcox, who helped train Cooper in preparation for the competition and who served as his sponsor during the competition. “What we’ve done, specifically, is a myriad of physical prep, board prep and constant studying. We tried to anticipate what we were going to encounter [in Vermont] and prepared for it as best we could.”
Upon arriving in Vermont, Cooper went through a brief acclimation period followed by a day of preparation that included safety briefings, a weapons zero, and instruction on the mountain warfare skills he and his fellow competitors would need to demonstrate during the competition.
The competition kicked off in earnest at 6 a.m. on Aug. 4 with a ruck march—approximately four miles over the rugged, hilly terrain of the Vermont Army National Guard’s Ethan Allen Firing Range. Afterward, the competitors qualified on both the M4 carbine and the M17 pistol before heading into the woods with cadre from the Army Mountain Warfare School. There, they tackled challenges such as a rope bridge, ascending a cliff face with a Prusik knot, and rappelling. The day continued with range qualifications on the M249 squad automatic weapon and the M240B machine gun.
“My favorite part of the experience has been doing the mountain warrior tasks, that’s what I enjoy the most,” Cooper said. “I love being outdoors and I love doing those tactics, those infantry tactics and all the different things you can do and use in mountainous terrain.”
The next day began with another early morning ruck march, this time just under three miles. Competitors then moved on to a stress shoot with their M4s and launched training rounds from the M320 grenade launcher. As clouds rolled over the mountains, the competitors rotated through a round-robin of Army Warrior Tasks. The stations included employing an M18A1 Claymore mine, requesting a medical evacuation, throwing a grenade, disassembling and reassembling an M4, operating a radio and reacting to a casualty.
By 4 a.m. the next morning, the competitors received their assigned points for the land navigation course at the Army Mountain Warfare School. Stepping off into a rain-soaked forest under near-total darkness, they faced a demanding task: finding five points within a 4.5-hour time limit. Exhausted upon their return, they took a short break before getting the chance to fire both historic and emerging weapons, including the U.S. Army’s new XM7 rifle. Next, they headed to the Vermont National Guard’s biathlon range, where Olympians from the World Class Athlete Program, or WCAP, introduced them to the sport. The competitors then ran a modified biathlon, alternating between laps on the course and engaging targets. Finally, the Soldiers and NCOs enjoyed a well-deserved break with a field trip to Burlington, Vermont, and Valcour Island.
“This is all a really big learning experience,” Cooper said. “If you keep pushing, you can do and succeed in everything you attempt and, as a leader, you can put that on your guys and if you just express that, that brings your guys up to a higher level.”
With the end of the competition in sight, competitors kicked off the fourth day with an Army Combat Fitness Test at Camp Johnson, near Colchester, Vermont. Afterward, they tackled a written exam that tested their knowledge across various military subjects. Next, they faced the challenge of assembling their dress uniforms using only a wooden ruler and a pair of scissors before sitting in front of a board of command sergeants major from multiple states across the nation. Once the uniform inspection and board were completed, rest and recovery became the primary focus as the Soldiers prepared for the final day of the competition.
“We are very, very proud of Sgt. Cooper,” Lehmer said, explaining that it was evident to him that Cooper had grown and improved as a young leader over the course of the competition. “He was already more mature than most of the Joes you see in your formation, but just to see his interactions with people, his confidence - he’s progressed in ways that, as a leader, you want your Soldiers to progress in, and it’s been awesome to watch and see.”
On Aug. 8, the final day of the competition, Cooper lined up alongside Soldiers and NCOs from Alabama, Hawaii, Montana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Iowa, Oklahoma, Utah, New York, Tennessee and Wisconsin. At exactly 5:30 a.m., they launched into the toughest physical challenge of the competition: a grueling 12-mile ruck march, which Cooper conquered in less than three hours.
“It was a hell of an event,” Cooper said of the ruck. “With the elevation changes here, 12 miles is not an average 12-mile ruck.”
Ultimately, after five days of grueling effort, Cooper came in sixth place against his junior enlisted peers.
“Several things didn’t really go his way, but it’s been interesting to watch his character show through when things aren’t peachy,” Wilcox said. “I’m really proud of him, and one of our big goals for this whole adventure was just to turn some uncomfortable things into strengths and I think the coolest thing for me so far has been watching him grow and overcome some challenges.”
As he moves forward in his career and looks forward to the next challenge, Cooper said he plans to stay consistent and focus on the basics.
“You can always improve your fitness, you can always get better in that way,” Cooper said. “But you got to know the basics. The basics are everything with being a Soldier and when you work on the basics and get to the point where you’re elite at the basics and all the normal stuff that a Soldier needs to know, that’s when you elevate yourself above others.”
Cooper’s leaders both expressed their extreme pride in Cooper and all that he accomplished. They said they’re thankful he’s a member of their formation and that they look forward to seeing what he tackles next.
“The caliber of Soldier that’s up here is just pushing him to be better individually. The competition itself just shows him what excellent means at an individual level, which is just a foundation for strong items and I think, going forward, he’ll know what he needs to build his teams and his squads and keep pushing through his career,” Wilcox said. “I’m so proud of him. It’s been a wild ride and he’s done fantastic and I’m looking forward to watching him take a little break now that it’s over.”