RUKLA, Lithuania – U.S. Soldiers with the Pennsylvania Army National Guard competed alongside NATO allies in the Lithuanian Land Forces Best Infantry Squad Competition, placing second among foreign teams and marking the first time Army National Guard Soldiers have participated in the multinational event.
The competition, held March 4 and 5, saw the Pennsylvania Army Guard squad compete against two active-component U.S. Army squads, 10 Lithuanian squads and squads from Germany, Estonia, Latvia and the Netherlands.
Hosted at the Land Forces’ Maj. Juozas Lukša Training Center and the Gaižiūnai Military Training Area, in Rukla, Lithuania, the competition included physically and mentally demanding tasks designed to evaluate small-unit readiness and tactical proficiency.
“The squad is the basic building block of any military formation, and strong squads create strong formations,” said Brig. Gen. Nerijus Stankevičius, commander of the Lithuanian army.
Though this was the first year an Army National Guard squad competed, the Pennsylvania National Guard and Lithuanian military share a more than 30-year relationship through the Department of War National Guard State Partnership Program, which pairs Guard elements with partner nations worldwide for training and subject matter exchanges.
In 2025, Lithuanian soldiers competed in the Pennsylvania Army Guard’s Best Warrior Competition, leading to an invitation for Pennsylvania Army Guard Soldiers to compete in this year’s Best Infantry Squad competition.
“It is a historical moment,” said Command Sgt. Maj. Eugenijus Žukauskas, command sergeant major of the Lithuanian army. “It's the first time when Pennsylvania National Guard is participating here.”
Žukauskas emphasized the “great relationship and friendship” that has been built through the SPP pairing – which dates to 1993, one of the first in the program – adding it was a key reason why the Pennsylvania Army Guard was invited to participate in the competition.
The eight-person squad was selected in October following a 14-hour, five-event competition. Those who made the final cut came from multiple Pennsylvania Army Guard units.
Following the selection, the squad began weekly workouts to improve their physical readiness ahead of the competition.
“We've held workouts and conditionings twice a week since then, where we've worked on mostly endurance,” said Sgt. 1st Class Tyler Devereux, a squad member and forward observer with 2nd Battalion, 166th Regiment (Regional Training Institute). “We've also done some track work, some speed work and gone over some tactical skills that we think may be relevant to some of the tasks we're going to be asked to perform while we're here.”
Squad members said they may not have known the specific tasks, but they knew to expect evaluation lanes requiring endurance, teamwork and tactical decision-making while carrying full combat equipment.
“This competition is essentially going to be two days of straight activity, meaning moving significant distances and encountering different obstacles and different tasks that we're going to have to complete as a squad as best we can, as fast as we can based on doctrine, based on what we've been trained to do,” said U.S. Army Staff Sgt. James Rudershausen, a squad member and Pennsylvania Army Guard Soldier assigned to Range Operations at Fort Indiantown Gap, Pennsylvania.
The competition tested them on marksmanship and small arms skills, their ability to operate as a squad in a variety of tactical scenarios, medical triage and evacuation tasks, and reconnaissance tasks – which included using small drones. All was done under physically challenging conditions that tested communication and teamwork, emphasizing the importance of strong small-unit leadership.
“Strong squad equals strong forces,” Žukauskas said. “If you have a weak squad leader or squad, you cannot expect that high echelon task will be accomplished in the right way.”
In addition to testing squad-level combat skills, the event provided an opportunity for Soldiers from different NATO nations to train together and share tactics and experiences.
“Seeing soldiers from multiple NATO nations training and competing together on Lithuanian soil clearly reflects the strength of our alliance,” Stankevičius said.
The competition also helps make that alliance stronger.
“Any time that we can train with partner nations, especially NATO nations, and be a part of an event or a training exercise that strengthens those relationships, it makes us all the better,” Devereux said. “It increases readiness in the event that we ever have to see each other or work with each other in times of conflict or in a real-world situation.”
And it helps build readiness at home.
“A lot of the knowledge that we're getting over the next couple of days in the train up is going to be basically how Lithuania tackles a lot of military obstacles, objectives,” said Rudershausen. “We’re going to learn from them and then hopefully come on the other side with more things that we can take back to our Soldiers in Pennsylvania.”