More than 70 U.S. Army Reserve soldiers are vying for the top slot in the annual U.S. Army Reserve Best Squad Competition from Aug. 20-Sept. 7,2024.

Competitors engaged in individual and squad-based events including an expert physical fitness assessment, multiple weapons qualifications, grenade practice, an obstacle course, tactical combat casualty care, rappel tower, a high-value target squad lane, a helocast, and more.

Competing Soldiers previously won best squad competitions on lower echelons prior to reporting to the U.S. Army Reserve Command level.

Among the competitors is US Army reserve Staff Sgt. Derek Seldon, U.S. Army Civil Affairs Psychological Operations Command, Fort Liberty, North Carolina. Hailing from Lansing, Michigan, Seldon explains how he has been preparing with his squad since February of this year.

"We all work extremely well together and I feel it has been our biggest advantage in this competition," says Seldon. "We do a lot of outside of the box thinking and work in teams of four to five as is, so as civil affairs we are really good at working in small teams compared to most combat arms."

Seldon elaborates on the requirement of discipline and continues to push himself to personal best times for the ruck march event.

"I'm a bit of a smaller guy compared to the other guys on my squad," Seldon said "I'm not a tall guy, so the ruck marches historically have been really difficult for me. I could always get them done in the three-hour time limit but I have little legs; I have to take a lot of steps. I've set a personal best for myself at each one of these competitions and this one I took about 11 minutes off my previous record."

When asked about training for this event he emphasizes the importance of putting in the work and the requirement to train on your own time.

"If you're thinking about competing," Seldon said "the Army Reserve is the land of opportunity."