A Best Ranger Competition candidate climbs a rope during Day Stakes events on the second day of the three-day event at Fort Benning, Ga., on Saturday, April 11, 2026. (Corey Dickstein/Stars and Stripes)
FORT BENNING, Ga. — Sgt. Drew Schorsch, out of water and exhausted after running and swimming for miles on the first day of the Army’s legendarily grueling three-day Best Ranger Competition, worried he would become a heat casualty.
Then his teammate, Spc. Caleb Godbold, handed over all his water before the pair of infantrymen began the next event — a laborious 1.5-mile dash carrying heavy water jugs that organizers dubbed “the long haul.”
Godbold’s decision proved to be fruitful.
At the end of the water-jug carry — in which the teams had to restart the event every time a can touched the ground — Schorsch and Godbold, from the elite 75th Ranger Regiment’s 2nd Battalion, had climbed from the middle of the pack and into first place.
“I was [out of] water and throwing up everywhere,” Schorsch said Monday after celebrating their win. “But we pulled through and did really well in the water cans, and that just proved to be just a huge gut check for us at a critical time, because if he didn’t do the water cans as fast as we did, I think I would have probably become a heat [casualty] because we were completely out of water.”
U.S. Army Spc. Caleb Godbold and Sgt. Drew Schorsch (Team 49), assigned to the 75th Ranger Regiment, pose for a victory photo after winning the 42nd annual David E. Grange Best Ranger Competition on Fort Benning, Ga., on Monday, April 13, 2026. (Luke Sullivan/U.S. Army)
Army Sgt. Drew Schorsh, left, examines a small ground robot as his Best Ranger Competition teammate, Spc. Caleb Godbold, prepares a radio, during an event on the second day of the three-day soldiering contest at Fort Benning, Ga., on Saturday, April 11, 2026. Schorsh and Godbold, from the 75th Ranger Regiment, won the 61-team competition. (Corey Dickstein/Stars and Stripes)
Their win secured the sixth straight Best Ranger Competition victory for the 75th Ranger Regiment. The regiment swept the top three places.
“It definitely feels great to win it, but it’s just awesome that we got the 1-2-3 sweep for Regiment,” Schorsch said. “Continuing to dominate this competition … now six years in a row, keeping that going is a really, really big deal for us.”
The annual Lt. Gen. David E. Grange Best Ranger Competition headlines Fort Benning’s Infantry Week events. Considered the Army’s Super Bowl, the three-day competition this year pitted 61 two-man teams of Ranger School graduates in a slew of back-to-back, day-and-night challenges meant to test their physical fitness, mental capacity and willingness to continue working under dire conditions that include little sleep and food, organizers said. Competitors jump out of helicopters, navigate multiple obstacle courses, complete ruck marches, swims and runs, showcase military tactics and shooting and are tested on their Ranger knowledge, including on knot tying and identifying reptiles.
Competitors this year covered more than 70 miles in 72 hours and shot more than 200 targets, organizers said.
Col. Stewart Lindsay, who commands the installation’s Airborne and Ranger Training Brigade, which runs the competition, said the competitors’ efforts were “awe-inspiring.”
“They lived up to the Ranger creed, never faltering and proving that they are specially selected and well-trained soldiers,” Lindsay said. “They carried the pride of their units, and they carried the pride of our nation.”
Army Capt. Bradley Wanovich, a company commander in 4th Ranger Training Battalion, who helped plan the 2026 competition, said organizers made some changes this year, including allowing the competitors to plan their own food for the event.
Instead of dictating exactly what they could eat and when, Ranger instructors provided competitors “sustainment bags” that the teams could fill with their own choices of food and supplements, Wanovich said. They could only access those bags at certain times.
“When we’re looking at the best Ranger, you’re looking at not only their tactical and technical skills, but also, do they know how to fuel themselves,” Wanovich said.
Army Capts. Jacob Rob and Peter Howell, of the 3rd Infantry Regiment, tend to a casualty dummy after dragging it from a Humvee during events on the second day of the 42nd annual Best Ranger Competition at Fort Benning, Ga., on Saturday, April 11, 2026. (Corey Dickstein/Stars and Stripes)
A Best Ranger Competition competitor places a tourniquet on a casualty dummy during the second day of the annual three-day contest at Fort Benning, Ga., on Saturday, April 11, 2026. (Corey Dickstein/Stars and Stripes)
Best Ranger Competition teammates 1st Lt. Jackson Colehower and 1st Lt. Keegan Boyd, of the 82nd Airborne Division, prepare to fast rope out of a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter during the grinding annual three-day event at Fort Benning, Ga., on Saturday, April 11, 2026. (Corey Dickstein/Stars and Stripes)
Army Sgt. Cody Krawczyk fast ropes out of a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter after his 101st Airborne Division teammate, Chief Warrant Officer 2 Colin Field, left, during the second day of the Best Ranger Competition at Fort Benning, Ga., on Saturday, April 11, 2026. (Corey Dickstein/Stars and Stripes)
Staff Sgt. Zach Lesutis, of the Army’s Transformation and Training Command, climbs a rope during the second day of the 42nd annual Best Ranger Competition at Fort Benning, Ga., on Saturday, April 11, 2026. (Corey Dickstein/Stars and Stripes)
A Best Ranger Competition competitor navigates a monkey bars obstacle on the second day of the 42nd annual Best Ranger Competition at Fort Benning, Ga., on Saturday, April 11, 2026. (Corey Dickstein/Stars and Stripes)
A Best Ranger Competition competitor navigates a monkey bars obstacle on the second day of the 42nd annual Best Ranger Competition at Fort Benning, Ga., on Saturday, April 11, 2026. (Corey Dickstein/Stars and Stripes)
Army 1st Lt. William Nauman, of the 11th Airborne Division, navigates a monkey bars obstacle on the second day of the Best Ranger Competition at Fort Benning, Ga., on Saturday, April 11, 2026. (Corey Dickstein/Stars and Stripes)
Army 1st Lt. William Nauman, of the 11th Airborne Division, performs a deadlift on the second day of the Best Ranger Competition at Fort Benning, Ga., on Saturday, April 11, 2026. (Corey Dickstein/Stars and Stripes)
Army Capt. Jacob Rob, of the 3rd Infantry Regiment, throws a spear during the second day of the 42nd annual Best Ranger Competition at Fort Benning, Ga., on Saturday, April 11, 2026. (Corey Dickstein/Stars and Stripes)
The Army also added new events — including a nod to the growing importance of emerging technology to soldiers.
In one part of the Day 2 events, competitors, immediately after completing a series of obstacle courses and strength and conditioning challenges, had to take control of a small ground robot, throw it into a mock home and use it to find a series of items.
The event was meant to stress the competitors mentally with a new technology they likely have not spent much time employing, said Staff Sgt. Adrian Gomez, a Ranger instructor who helped run the competition.
“Best Ranger is obviously super physical with the insane amount of miles that these guys put in,” he said. “But we know we can’t neglect the mental capabilities of these competitors, as well. And this event [with the small robot] is going to test their ability to plan, to work together and keep their composure under a bunch of stress.”
Schorsch and Godbold said they spent months training to ensure they were physically prepared for the endurance necessary to carry through the competition. The mental tests, they said, become easier if you’re in top physical condition.
The 2026 winners, who were both competing for the first time, said they had no desire to compete in Best Ranger again. They said they slept a total of about 90 minutes over the entire three days.
Godbold said he was not certain they had won when they crossed the finish line at the National Infantry Museum on Sunday, but he was just happy it was over.
“Crossing that finish line, I was glad to be done,” he said. “I was just happy to not have to be on my feet anymore.”
Army Capt. Peter Howell, of the 3rd Infantry Regiment, uses a torch to breach an obstacle during events on the second day of the 42nd annual Best Ranger Competition at Fort Benning, Ga., on Saturday, April 11, 2026. (Corey Dickstein/Stars and Stripes)
Army Capt. Jacob Rob, of the 3rd Infantry Regiment, uses a saw to breach an obstacle during events on the second day of the 42nd annual Best Ranger Competition at Fort Benning, Ga., on Saturday, April 11, 2026. (Corey Dickstein/Stars and Stripes)
Army Sgt. Artem Novozhylov, left, and Sgt. Austin Marlatt, of the 82nd Airborne Division, compete together in the 42nd annual Best Ranger Competition at Fort Benning, Ga., on Saturday, April 11, 2026. (Corey Dickstein/Stars and Stripes)
A Best Ranger Competition competitor rappels off a rock wall during the second day of the annual soldiering skills contest at Fort Benning, Ga., on Saturday, April 11, 2026. (Corey Dickstein/Stars and Stripes)
A Best Ranger Competition participant lifts a heavy medicine ball during the second day of the grueling three-day contest at Fort Benning, Ga., on Saturday, April 11, 2026. (Corey Dickstein/Stars and Stripes)
Army Sgt. Issac Smith, left, tosses a heavy medicine ball through a window toward his Best Ranger Competition teammate, Capt. Lane Peters, during the second day of the grueling three-day contest at Fort Benning, Ga., on Saturday, April 11, 2026. Smith and Peters, of the 75th Ranger Regiment, placed third of 61 teams in the competition. (Corey Dickstein/Stars and Stripes)
A Best Ranger Competition competitor scales a wall during the second day of the annual soldiering skills contest at Fort Benning, Ga., on Saturday, April 11, 2026. (Corey Dickstein/Stars and Stripes)
