HANAU, Germany — He’s 21 years old, a medic by trade and a part-time soldier with the New Jersey National Guard.

These are not the typical credentials of a Soldier of the Year with a military police brigade. But that’s what Pfc. John Laurencelle was named Thursday after winning the annual competition conducted by the 18th Military Police Brigade in Hanau to determine its best enlisted soldier.

Laurencelle beat out the top soldiers in six other companies during the three-day competition, which included navigation skills, endurance tests and a knowledge board.

When he saw his competition early in the week, Laurencelle said he did not think he had much of a chance to win.

“They’ve been downrange and all had their combat badges,” he said. “They all looked like [physical training] studs.”

He surprised himself on the first day of competition by taking the lead during the night navigation test. He’d never attempted navigating in the dark before, he said.

Laurencelle never let go of his lead through the four-mile rucksack race, weapons qualification, common tasks test and knowledge board, which included questions about counseling that stumped him.

Command Sgt. Maj. Louis Barnes of the 709th Military Police Battalion said Laurencelle’s performance should go a long way in reducing the class warfare between full-time and part-time soldiers.

“It’s normally the mind-set of some that the National Guard and Reserve soldiers don’t have what it takes to be a soldier,” Barnes said. “And I think that’s a bunch of bull.”

Laurencelle said he hoped to show full-time soldiers around him that he is on equal footing.

“I felt I needed to go there and represent my company and the National Guard,” said Laurencelle, who dropped 11 pounds to qualify for the competition. “To show them that the National Guard isn’t all people make it out to be.”

Laurencelle will move from Bamberg to Hanau next week to begin training for the next round of the Soldier of the Year competition, which will include soldiers throughout the Army’s V Corps.