February 4, 2017 –
The Deployment Support Command held its 2017 Best Warrior Competition at Fort Benning, Georgia. The 5 day competition ended February 3. Soldiers from all units of the DSC competed in the event that consisted of road marches, obstacle courses, essays and a stressful interview board.
Day one of the competition started in the darkness of the early morning being bused to an unknown location, blind folded, to begin an eight-mile road march. Along the miles of the march were “check points” where the candidates were tested on warrior tasks like disassembling the M249 SAW (Squad Automatic Weapon) machine gun to map reading.
At the end of the road march, candidates were introduced to a vigorous land navigation course that had them finding multiple points that were thousands of meters apart, in dense, swampy terrain.
Following the land navigation course, candidates were blind folded and instructed to disassemble and re-assemble the M16 rifle.
At the end of the week the final winners were, Sgt. Brian Sonntag from the 1397th Deployment and Distribution Support Battalion in Vallejo, California and Spec. Christopher Childress of the 1184th Deployment and Distribution Support Battalion in Mobile, Alabama.
Sonntag is working toward a Business Administration degree at Santa Rosa Junior College in Santa Rosa, California and was the winner of the 2016 BWC (enlisted). His sponsor is SSG Yolanda Gonzalez.
Childress lives in Gulf Shores, Alabama and is a Restaurant Manager in Orange Beach. His sponsor is SGT Stephen Usry.
The next level of competition will be April 9 at Joint Base McGuire Dix Lakehurst, New Jersey when the 377th Theater Support Command hosts its Best Warrior Competition. Sonntag and Childress will represent the DSC at this competition.