An Oklahoma City resident serving in the Oklahoma Army National Guard has been named the US National Guard Region V Noncommissioned Officer of the Year.
Staff Sgt. Brock Wilson of Oklahoma City serves in the OKARNG's 120th Medical Company (Area Support), 120th Engineer Battalion, 90th Troop Command, and claimed the Region V NCO of the Year title after competing against noncommissioned officers from Louisiana, Kansas, Arkansas, Missouri and Nebraska at the Region V Best Warrior Competition in Nebraska, May 13-16.
“The competition's very tough, and so it's going to be close all the way throughout,” Wilson said at the start of the competition. ”What I'm looking forward to most in this competition is finding out my own personal strengths and weaknesses, where I can improve, and learning lessons that I can take back to my unit. It feels like a very big honor to be able to represent the state of Oklahoma.”
The competition, hosted by the Nebraska National Guard, took place over four days and consisted of an Army Combat Fitness Test on the first day. Keeping with the demanding mental and physical pace, day two was an early morning of Army Warrior Tasks immediately followed by a water survival test and an obstacle course and finished with day and night land navigation exercises. Day three was a showcase of marksmanship at multiple weapons ranges, before the competitors endured a 12-mile ruck march and concluded with a test of professionalism as they faced boards made up of senior leadership from across the region on day four.
Wilson earned his way into the Regional competition by winning the Oklahoma Army National Guard's state-level Best Warrior Competition in April. During the state competition, Command Sgt. Maj. John Hernandez, state command sergeant major for the Oklahoma Army National Guard, said despite being a competition, Best Warrior brings Guardsmen together to build better teams across the OKARNG.
"Competition breeds excellence among Soldiers," Hernandez said. "Our Citizen-Soldiers in Oklahoma constantly strive to be the best at what they do, and events like this provide them with the platform to showcase their skills and learn from their peers."
Hernandez added to that sentiment during the Region V competition saying that regardless of a Soldier's military occupational specialty, they need to excel at basic Soldier skills to ensure they can face challenges whether competition or combat.
“It goes back to something that I'm very vocal about,” Hernandez said. “We're great at our jobs and most specific jobs—we can do it. But at the end of the day, everybody's still a Soldier and it's important and good to have a medic and an infantryman to feed off of each other and get back to those skills.”
Wilson said the regional competition was more fierce than the state level.
“With the state competition, I always felt like I knew where I was at, whereas with this group, really, it's anybody's game," Wilson said about the skill of his fellow competitors. "Every single person here, they're all very well versed in their Soldier skills, and so the competition is just that next higher tier.”
Wilson will now go on to represent the Oklahoma Army National Guard and Region V at the National Guard Bureau Best Warrior Competition where he will compete against other regional winners to be named the best NCO across the 54 states, territories and District of Columbia National Guard.