Soldiers assigned to the 11th Airborne Division stand together after completing a fitness circuit event during the U.S. Army Pacific Best Squad Competition on July 21, 2026, at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash. The Best Squad Competition tests soldiers on their individual and collective ability to adapt to and overcome challenging scenarios that test their physical and mental endurance, technical and tactical abilities, and basic warrior skills under stress and extreme fatigue. (Jared Simmons/U.S. Army)
A team of soldiers based in Alaska won top honors over the weekend as Best Squad in the U.S. Army Pacific Competition at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington.
The soldiers from the 11th Airborne Division finished first among 16 teams drawn from U.S. Army units across the Indo-Pacific region.
They’ll advance to the the final competition — the U.S. Army Best Squad Competition — for top honors in the service during another round of skills tasks at Fort Benning, Ga., in September.
Event organizers said the tests were meant to reveal “the Army’s most cohesive, disciplined and lethal small-unit team.”
Squads demonstrated proficiency in land navigation, weapons proficiency, tactical combat casualty care, urban terrain operations and more.
“I was pretty nervous, but I knew that we had trained and were ready for this,” Staff Sgt. Chad Hale, who led the 11th Airborne Division team, said in an Army news release. “They pushed every single day; I never had to stay on them about it.”
Spc. Mariah Cook, assigned to 22nd Corps Signal Brigade, fires a Carl Gustav Recoilless Rifle during the U.S. Army Pacific Best Squad Competition on July 22, 2026, at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash. (Hunter Carpenter/U.S. Army)
Soldiers secure a simulated downed pilot before continuing an evacuation during the U.S. Army Pacific Best Squad Competition on July 23, 2026, at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash. (Fabian Jones/U.S. Army)
A squad in the competition consists of five soldiers: a squad leader, who is a sergeant first class or staff sergeant; a team leader, who is sergeant or corporal; and three squad members in the ranks of specialist or below.
The 11th Airborne Division Squad also included Sgt. Trent Robinson, Spc. William Ebarb, Spc. Ryan Kieliszewski and Spc. Macguire Klemick.
Formerly called the “Best Warrior Competition,” the Best Squad Competition focuses on individual readiness and small-unit cohesion through physical and mental challenges, marksmanship, medical care and navigation.
“Win or lose, I looked at the competition as an overall training event,” said Spc. Klemick, from the 11th Airborne Division team. “I got to do a lot of things I wouldn’t normally do.”
The Fort Benning event will also include a competition for Soldier of the Year from the ranks of private to specialist, while noncommissioned officers from corporal through sergeant first class vie for the title of Noncommissioned Officer of the Year.
The competition is open to active-duty, National Guard and Reserve soldiers.
Soldiers rappel from a helicopter during the U.S. Army Pacific Best Squad Competition on July 21, 2026, at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash. (Xavier Vinson/U.S. Army)
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