AUGUST 13, 2024 — As the 2024 Paris Olympics draw to a close, another competitive event in Europe — the U.S. Army Europe and Africa Best Squad Competition — recently ended, bringing forth a different team of champions.
The annual USAREUR-AF Best Squad Competition was held here, July 31 to Aug. 9, 2024, pitting the top teams from several large units, including V Corps, 7th Army Training Command, 20th Army Air Missile Defense Command, 21st Theater Sustainment Command, and Southern European Task Force, Africa, against one another in a long test of mental and physical strength. This competition drives units to develop their squads into skilled teams of warfighters, fulfilling the Army’s priorities of strengthening the formation and providing ready forces. Over the nine-day event, teams were tested on a multitude of tasks, from land navigation and weapons ranges to an Army Combat Fitness Test and 12-mile ruck march.
“These 45 competitors — nine squads — represent the best in this formation,” said Command Sgt. Maj. Eric Bohannon, command sergeant major of V Corps – Forward, on the final day of the competition. “They are truly the elite and we should all be humbled to be standing among these giants.”
In a long-awaited awards ceremony Aug. 9, Command Sgt. Maj. Jeremiah E. Inman, senior enlisted advisor for U.S. Army Europe and Africa, had the honor of announcing the winning squad. Team Delta, made up of Staff Sgt. Jordan Behr, Sgt. Billy Hogarth, Spc. Jonathan White, Spc. Warrisi Abiola and Pfc. Philip Kunde, all assigned to the 2nd Cavalry Regiment out of Rose Barracks, Vilseck, Germany, took the title of the 2024 USAREUR-AF Best Squad. The team was one of two 2nd Cavalry Regiment squads in the competition who represented V Corps. In addition to winning the competition, Behr and White won NCO of the Year and Soldier of the Year, respectively.
The team, while overjoyed by their victory in the USAREUR-AF competition, actually found themselves in a similar position just months prior. In May, the team won the V Corps Best Squad Competition, beating out eight other teams from the 41st Field Artillery Brigade, 12th Combat Aviation Brigade and within their own unit, to claim 2nd Cavalry Regiment victory for the third year running.
“It’s a great honor and I got really lucky to be in this position,” said Kunde, a Germany native who is the youngest member of the winning squad and has only been in the Army for a little over a year. “There was a lot of pressure, but I just hope I did my best to represent not only V Corps, but 2nd Cavalry Regiment and specifically, my fire support team.”
The inaugural Best Squad Competition was announced just over two years ago, when, in February 2022, former Sergeant Major of the Army Michael A. Grinston declared it the replacement of the longstanding Best Warrior Competition. The competition was started in coordination with the “This is My Squad” campaign, which encouraged units to develop a “people first,” team-based mindset over focusing on the individual Soldier.
Since its initiation, units across the Army, including the Reserve and National Guard components, have found and molded the greatest squads from within their ranks to compete in Best Squad competitions. Though the event is relatively new, for the 2nd Cavalry Regiment, succeeding in it has become tradition. This was not only the third iteration of the U.S. Army Europe and Africa Best Squad Competition, but the third time a squad from the 2nd Cavalry Regiment has won it.
Since their win in the V Corps competition in May, the winning squad has been endlessly dedicated to training, sharpening their skills and strengthening their cohesion whenever possible. They spent nearly every day together improving their physical fitness, perfecting their Soldier skills, and even sharing meals together. For this bonded team, dedication and hard work certainly paid off, as the five-man group held the frontrunning spot for the entirety of the USAREUR-AF competition.
Undefeated, humble, but hungry for another victory, the squad will travel to Washington, D.C. in September to compete in the U.S. Army Best Squad Competition, an honor many Soldiers and squads will never have the chance to experience. Though the 2nd Cavalry Regiment has never won the U.S. Army Best Squad Competition, this year’s squad remains hopeful about their chances of winning the event in October.
“The work isn’t done. If anything, now the real competition starts,” said Behr after his team received their trophies. “Ever since I wanted to do this, the goal was always to go to the Army-level competition. We were never training for the V Corps one and we were never training for USAREUR-AF one – we’ve been training for the U.S. Army Best Squad Competition, and now we actually get to go do it.”
By Capt. Sara Berner