Staff Sergeant Matthew Phelan \u201902 was a finalist in the U.S. Army\u2019s prestigious \u201cBest Warrior\u201d competition, a physical and mental contest that named the best soldier and best non-commissioned officer of the year. The contest started with more than 1 million competitors and narrowed down to a field of the 24 most elite soldiers in the Army, National Guard, and Reserves, Phelan among them.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a humongous honor,\u201d Phelan said. \u201cBeing recognized as the best of the best by your company and by your commanding officers tells you that you\u2019re the best in your field.\u201d<\/p>\n
Phelan joined the Army just a few months after graduating from ESU with a degree in sociology and criminal justice, and he says that completing his undergraduate degree prepared him well for service.\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cA lot of people come in when they\u2019re 18, but by the time I got here, I had been through college and had grown up a little more.\u201d<\/p>\n
He has completed three tours of duty in Iraq, and was promoted to staff sergeant on Oct. 1.<\/p>\n
The final round of the \u201cBest Warrior\u201d contest was held over three days in September at Fort Lee, Va. The series of tasks included written examinations, a timed two-mile run, and \u201curban orienteering,\u201d in which soldiers were asked to locate certain points scattered over a large geographical area.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou end up walking from five to seven miles within a two- to three-hour period,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd then you do it again that night.\u201d Phelan spent months preparing by physically working out and studying.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne big part of the competition is called the \u2018Board Appearance,\u2019 and the sergeant majors can ask you questions about almost anything related to the Army, from military justice to Army procedures,\u201d he recalled. Competing soldiers also must be up on about current events, and write an essay as part of the examinations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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