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Five Army National Guard Soldiers from five states were runners up in the 2026 Army Best Squad Competition.
The team (above from left to right) — Spc. Caden Leonard (Utah), Spc. Brandon Brown (Florida), Sgt. 1st Class Erich Friedlein (Pennsylvania), Sgt. Michael Fouts (Arizona) and Spc. Caleb Chambers (Indiana) — finished behind five Soldiers from the 75th Ranger Regiment representing U.S. Army Special Operations Command.
Eleven five-member teams from major Army commands competed in the weeklong competition in September at Fort Benning, Georgia.
The results were announced Monday at the Association of the U.S. Army Annual Meeting and Exposition in Washington, D.C.
The five Guard Soldiers qualified for the service-wide event by winning or placing at the 2026 Army National Guard Best Warrior Competition in July at Camp Blanding, Florida.
At Fort Benning, the 11 teams demonstrated technical and tactical proficiency and their ability to operate with discipline and cohesion.
Events included a formal board, fitness assessments, weapons qualification and familiarization lanes, an 18.6-mile night foot march and obstacle courses.
They also experienced the “First 100 Yards” evolution led by drill sergeants for the Army’s newest basic combat trainees, completed the combat water survival assessment course at Victory Pond, and loaded and fired an M1A2 Abrams.
The competition ended with a squad fitness challenge during Fort Benning Community Day, hosted by the National Infantry Museum.
After the tactical phase at Fort Benning, the squads traveled to the National Capital Region, paid their respects at Arlington National Cemetery, ran the annual Army Ten-Miler and gathered with one another and Sgt. Maj. of the Army Michael R. Weimer before the AUSA events began.
Gen. Steve Nordhaus, chief of the National Guard Bureau, and Lt. Gen. Jonathan Stubbs, director of the Army National Guard, celebrated with the Army Guard team this week in a Facebook video.
Last year’s government shutdown forced the cancellation of the 2025 event.
—By John Goheen
