JERICHO, Vt. - New York Army National Guard Sgt. Peter Fillion, a part-time architect and graduate student, is one of two Best Warriors in the 325,000-Soldier Army National Guard.
Fillion, an infantryman in the 2nd Squadron, 101st Cavalry Regiment, who was a specialist when he first competed, beat six competitors from across the country in the junior enlisted Soldier category.
These Soldiers won their unit, state and regional Best Warrior events before competing for the national award at Ethan Allen Firing Range in Jericho, Vermont, Aug. 4-8.
Noncommissioned officers compete against other sergeants in their category.
Fillion will now compete alongside other Best Warrior finishers in the Army’s Best Squad Competition from Sept. 29 to Oct. 10.
Command Sgt. Maj. Edwin Garris, the New York Army National Guard’s top enlisted leader, said Fillion is the first New York Soldier to win this honor.
Fillion said being best in the entire Army Guard “is kind of surreal.”
“It’s an interesting feeling because you’ve had a major accomplishment in one area, but in your civilian life, you just go back to who you were before,” he said. “They’re happy for you, but they don’t really understand what it took to get there.”
Fillion said it took a lot of exercise and brainwork.
“These competitions are really good at testing you both physically and mentally,” Fillion said.
He said his strong Christian faith helped sustain him through the tough parts.
Best Warrior competitions include marksmanship, a physical fitness test, land navigation, military skills, boards where Soldiers are quizzed on their military knowledge, and several long marches.
“Ruck marching is the most difficult because you are carrying weight and walking for a long time and everything kind of hurts, but you just keep going,” he said.
Garris said Fillion’s edge in the competition was his military knowledge.
“That’s where he shines,” Garris said.
At that level of competition, everybody is fit, or they wouldn’t have gotten that far, he said.
“But the separation is the mental aspect of it,” Garris said. “You may be able to move, shoot and communicate, but can you think on your feet?”
Fillion agreed.
“A lot of units send their top dog physically, but they often overlook how many points can be earned on intellectual tasks,” he said. “There are many times I wasn’t the strongest person, but I was the one that knew the most about unified land operations.”
His best event in the field was land navigation, which began at 4:30 a.m. Fillion navigated in the dark to find all the locations and finish first.
Getting ready for the Best Warrior competition involved balancing the preparation with his job at Kideney Architects in Buffalo and a full course load at the University of Buffalo.
His wife, Samantha, an intensive care nurse in Buffalo, was his study partner.
His unit also helped him by putting him on orders in the weeks before the national competition so he could focus on preparing.
“I made sure to spend a lot of time working on my physical ability, making sure my legs were super strong,” Fillion said. “That was my main focus, working out, because I had done a lot of the intellectual stuff.”
The other big challenge during the competition was the lack of sleep.
“Although the activities may not go into the late evening you are up late preparing for the event that is tomorrow. So, whether it be studying for a board or packing a ruck for the ruck march the next day, you are always up a little bit later than you want to be,” he said.
He and the six Soldiers he competed against started out wary of each other, but by the end, they were great friends, he said.
Fillion said that as he moves onto the Best Squad event, he will work to improve his endurance and shooting.
He’s also looking at the different paths he could take in the Guard halfway through his six-year enlistment.
“I have enjoyed my time in the Guard, so I am not in a hurry to get out. I’ve been giving it 110% and I will keep on giving it 110%,“ he said.