CAMP SMITH TRAINING SITE, N.Y. – Two Soldiers from Buffalo’s 105th Military Police Company have been named winners in the New York Army National Guard’s 2026 Best Warrior competition.
Spc. Trevor Lock took first place in the junior enlisted Soldier category and Staff Sgt. Derek Tucker won the non-commissioned officer contest. Lock and Tucker will compete in the northeast regional competition in June at Camp Fogerty in Rhode Island for the chance to go to the national Army Guard Best Warrior event.
“I learned a lot from this best warrior competition”, Tucker said. “It opened me up to opportunities to learn and train on things that I haven't before.”
Nine Soldiers participated in the March 23-26 event, which was run by the 106th Regional Training Institute. The competition evaluated the Soldiers in physically and mentally demanding events designed to replicate real-world warfighting conditions, New York Army National Guard Command Sgt. Major Leylan Jones said.
Senior Enlisted Advisor John T. Raines III, the principal advisor to the chief of the National Guard Bureau, praised all the competitors during the contest award dinner.
This competition is not just about who is the fastest, the strongest, or even the most technically proficient,” Raines said. “It is about who can embody the profession of arms at its highest level.”
Raines’ decision to visit the New York Best Warrior demonstrated the importance of the event and the caliber of the Soldiers competing, Jones said.
Events like the Best Warrior help build leaders, Lock said.
“The next generation of leaders can improve from this, not just compete in it,” Lock said.
“You can build off this and get a lot of experience with different weapons and courses and gain different knowledge,” he added.
Second-place in the NCO category went to Staff Sgt. Justin Jablanski, a combat engineer with the 27th Infantry Brigade Combat Team.
Spc. Jerry Remy, an infantryman with the 108th Infantry Battalion, finished second in the junior enlisted category.
Throughout the event, Soldiers navigated situational training exercise lanes, completed land navigation and were tested on their physical fitness through the Expert Physical Fitness Assessment and the Army Fitness Test.
They also completed a written exam, went before a board of senior NCOs in their Class A uniforms, completed a medical skills test and went through a mystery event, which, in this case, was the air assault course obstacle course.
The final challenge was a 12-mile ruck march. The competitors were dropped off by bus at Franklin D. Roosevelt State Park in Yorktown Heights , where they conducted their timed march.
The nine Soldiers also had the opportunity to earn the German Armed Forces Badge for Military Proficiency. Earning the badge involves a fitness test, a 100-meter swim in uniform and a first aid and pistol proficiency demonstration.