{"id":44226,"date":"2025-04-15T09:50:45","date_gmt":"2025-04-15T13:50:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/?p=44226"},"modified":"2025-04-15T09:50:46","modified_gmt":"2025-04-15T13:50:46","slug":"kennett-squares-ruiz-rhoades-wins-soldier-of-the-year-in-the-pa-national-guards-2025-best-warrior-competition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/?p=44226","title":{"rendered":"Kennett Square’s Ruiz-Rhoades wins Soldier of the Year in the PA National Guard\u2019s 2025 Best Warrior Competition"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By Sgt. 1st Class Shane Smith<\/a><\/strong><\/i> , <\/a>Joint Force Headquarters – Pennsylvania National Guard<\/em><\/a> <\/i> <\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Spc. Robert F. Ruiz-Rhoades<\/p><\/div>\n

FORT INDIANTOWN GAP \u2013 Twenty-three service members competed in the Pennsylvania Army National Guard\u2019s state-level best warrior competition here April 3\u20136, 2025.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Sgt. Daniel Miller, a supply specialist with the 166th Regiment \u2013 Regional Training Institute won Noncommissioned Officer (NCO) of the Year.<\/p>\n

Spc. Robert Ruiz with the 28th Expeditionary Combat Aviation Brigade won Soldier of the Year.<\/p>\n

Sgt. 1st Class Tyler Landis, a recruiter with the Pennsylvania Army National Guard Recruiting and Retention Battalion won the Command Sgt. Maj. Jay H. Fields NCO Leadership Award.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou represent the best of the best,\u201d said Command Sgt. Maj. Shawn Phillips, Pennsylvania\u2019s command senior enlisted leader to the competitors. \u201cGive it your all and grow from your experiences here.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the first time in the history of the competition, Lithuanian service members competed alongside Pennsylvania Guardsmen as part of the Pennsylvania National Guard\u2019s more than 30 year-long state partnership with the country of Lithuania. Additionally, five active duty U.S. Army service members not from Pennsylvania took part in the competition.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was great to see the camaraderie that came so naturally between us all,” said Sgt. Daniel Miller. “Despite competing against each other, we all shared a military background and motivated one another throughout the competition.”<\/p>\n

The four-day competition consisted of nine evaluated events. Day one began with an early morning Army Combat Fitness Test, followed by weapons qualification on the M4 carbine and M17 pistol, and concluded with a written examination.<\/p>\n

On day two competitors navigated Fort Indiantown Gap\u2019s obstacle course, completed a mystery event, and ended the day with a 12-mile, 35 pound ruck march. The mystery event involved carrying ammunition cans approximately half a mile to a fighting position. Upon arrival, competitors had to move a simulated casualty off an M240 machine gun, change out the weapon\u2019s barrel, and return fire. Competitors then braved the cold waters of Shuey Lake, swimming across before then having to assemble, program, and operate a radio system to finish the event.<\/p>\n

“We all knew this competition was going to be demanding,” said Sgt. 1st Class Tyler Landis. “Not knowing exactly what to expect makes it hard to prepare for. The uncertainty of the mystery event and the physical demand of the ruck march were especially difficult for us all.”<\/p>\n

Day three began at 3 a.m. with nighttime land navigation, leading into daytime land navigation. Competitors were required to plot and locate as many points as possible within six hours. The second challenge of the day was a medical event in which competitors had to evacuate, assess, and treat a casualty, request a 9-line medical evacuation, load a casualty onto a sked litter, and drag the litter to a distant ambulance.<\/p>\n

On the final day, competitors reported for a board in their Army service uniforms and were evaluated by a panel of senior ranking NCOs who assessed their appearance, professionalism, and military knowledge.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of you inspired me during this competition by showing your grit and standing out as leaders,\u201d said Maj. Gen. John Pippy, adjutant general of Pennsylvania. \u201cLeave here with these words in mind: be, know, do. Be the leader who\u2019s worthy of leading others. Know your job and the people around you, and most importantly, do what\u2019s needed to complete the mission, because leaders act and solve problems.\u201d<\/p>\n

Miller, Ruiz and Landis will go on to compete in the regional-level competition hosted here in May.<\/p>\n

Competitors for NCO of the Year included:
\n– Sgt. Daniel Miller (winner), 1st Battalion, 166th Regiment \u2013 Regional Training Institute
\n– Staff Sgt. Joseph Knepp, 1st Battalion, 11th Infantry Regiment
\n– Staff Sgt. Travis Daniels, 728th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion
\n– Sgt. Miles Spencer, 28th Infantry Division Band
\n– Sgt. Justin Jolin, 337th Engineer Battalion, 55th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade<\/p>\n

Competitors for Soldier of the Year included:
\n– Spc. Robert Ruiz (winner), 28th Expeditionary Combat Aviation Brigade
\n– Spc. Samuel Barroner, 1st Battalion, 109th Field Artillery Regiment
\n– Spc. Jared Browning, 2nd Battalion, 112th Infantry Regiment
\n– Spc. Firdavs Kadirov, 228th Transportation Battalion, 213th Regional Support Group
\n– Pfc. Matthew Stone, 1st Battalion, 107th Field Artillery Regiment<\/p>\n

Competitors for the Command Sgt. Maj. Jay H. Fields NCO Leadership Award included:
\n– Sgt. 1st Class Tyler Landis (winner), Pennsylvania Army National Guard Recruiting and Retention Battalion
\n– Sgt. Jake Dubeau, 1st Battalion, 109th Infantry Regiment
\n– Sgt. Samuel T. Elliot, 1st Battalion, 109th Infantry Regiment
\n– Sgt. Ryan Sheidy, 1st Battalion, 111th Infantry Regiment<\/p>\n

Lithuanian competitors included:
\n– Cpl. Mantas Narbutas (winner), K\u0119stutis Battalion, Griffin Brigade, Lithuanian Land Forces
\n– Cpl. Ignas Bartusis, K\u0119stutis Battalion, Griffin Brigade, Lithuanian Land Forces
\n– Cpl. Edvinas Norkus, 6th Territorial Unit, Lithuanian National Defence Volunteer Force
\n– Pfc. Kiprijonas Ivinskis, 6th Territorial Unit, Lithuanian National Defence Volunteer Force<\/p>\n

Non-Pennsylvania U.S. Army competitors included:
\n– Staff Sgt. Katherine King (winner), U.S. Army Medical Materiel Agency
\n– Sgt. Hunter Fetterley, Communications Security Logistics Activity
\n– Shiyuan Zhu, U.S. Army Medical Materiel Agency
\n– Sgt. Luis Ortiz-Morales, U.S. Army Medical Materiel Center \u2013 Europe
\n– Spc. Jamil Samuel, Medical Maintenance Operations Division, USAMMC<\/p>\n

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By Sgt. 1st Class Shane Smith , Joint Force Headquarters – Pennsylvania National Guard FORT INDIANTOWN GAP \u2013 Twenty-three service members competed in the Pennsylvania Army National Guard\u2019s state-level best warrior competition here April 3\u20136, 2025. Sgt. Daniel Miller, a supply specialist with the 166th Regiment \u2013 Regional Training Institute won Noncommissioned Officer (NCO) of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":44225,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[6518,16,3658,15130],"class_list":["post-44226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-featured","tag-kennett-square","tag-pennsylvania-national-guard","tag-soldier-of-the-year"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=44226"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44226\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44227,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44226\/revisions\/44227"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/44225"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=44226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=44226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=44226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}