50 teams ‘endure hardship’ in 2018 Best Ranger Competition at Fort Benning

Shortly before dawn Friday morning, boots from 50 two-man Ranger teams hit the road at Camp Rogers for the 35th Annual David E. Grange Jr. Best Ranger Competition at Fort Benning.

The run kicks off three days of grueling competition that will push teams to cover more that 60 miles with little time for food and sleep before the best team in the military is selected Sunday afternoon. After the morning run, the competition includes exercises at Victory Pond, York Field, the shooting range and a foot march where more than half of the teams are dropped from the contest before Saturday.

Retired Sgt. Maj. John Burns, coach of the National Guard team for seven years including the winning 2016 team of Capt. Robert Killian and Staff Sgt. Erich Friedlein, said the competition is more than enduring a 2.5 hour foot march and scoring 300 on the physical test.

“I think the biggest thing is being able to endure the hardship for three days,” Burns said Friday. “It’s being able to do that back-to-back three days straight. It is no secret that the best thing is to run a clean competition. You have to be mentally prepared and focused and not make those mistakes that are going to cost you points.”

Burns said the National Guard returns some experience this year with Friedlein and Capt. Travis Cornwall who have competed in past events. To prepare for the contest, Burns said more marksmanship was added this year with land navigation in the training.

“We added a little bit more marksmanship this year based off of last year,” he said. “It was a big focus on marksmanship.”

The last day of the contest includes the Darby Queen Obstacle, the Helocast at Victory Pond, Water Survival and a buddy run at Camp Rogers.

An awards ceremony is held at 10 a.m. Monday in Marshall Auditorium at McGinnis-Wickam Hall .

In addition to Best Ranger, two other events will overlap during the weekend at Fort Benning. The 198th Infantry Brigade hosts the inaugural Best Mortar Competition Saturday through Monday, pitting the military’s best four-man mortar crews against each other for the Best Mortar Crew. The 316th Cavalry Brigade hosts the Lacerda Cup Combatives Competition on Sunday through Tuesday, testing the hand-to-hand skills and close quarters combative skills as individuals and teams compete in eight weight classes.

The Best Ranger, Best Mortar and the Lacerda Cup are part of Infantry Week during the year of Fort Benning’s Centennial celebration. All are open to the public. Events will be posted on Fort Benning’s Facebook page before each competition starts.

Burns said the Ranger teams are ready to get the event underway. “The mood would be let’s get ready to go,” he said. “They have been training hard for a couple of months now and they are ready to see if they are as prepared as they think they are. They are all prepared.”

This story was originally published April 12, 2018 at 6:09 PM with the headline "50 teams ‘endure hardship’ in 2018 Best Ranger Competition at Fort Benning."