
The David E. Grange Jr. Best Ranger Competition is an annual competition held in
Fort Benning
Fort Benning (named Fort Moore from 2023–2025) is a United States Army post in the Columbus, Georgia area. Located on Georgia's border with Alabama, Fort Benning supports more than 120,000 active-duty military, family members, reserve compone ...
, Georgia, hosted by the
Airborne and Ranger Training Brigade. It is a two-person team competition where competitors must be active military who are
Ranger Qualified.
Named after
LTG David E. Grange Jr., the Best Ranger Competition was first held in 1982.
The first competitions were limited to Ranger units, but from 1984 onwards it accepted teams from throughout the Army.
As of 2018, the competition involves 50 two-person teams, mostly from the
75th Ranger Regiment
The 75th Ranger Regiment, also known as the United States Army Rangers, Army Rangers, is the United States Army Special Operations Command's premier light infantry and direct-action raid force. The 75th Ranger Regiment is also part of Joint S ...
and the ARTB, but also including a
Coast Guard
A coast guard or coastguard is a Maritime Security Regimes, maritime security organization of a particular country. The term embraces wide range of responsibilities in different countries, from being a heavily armed military force with cust ...
team.
The competition takes 62 hours and involves tests of physical fitness, including runs and marches, and of marksmanship. The exact composition of events changes yearly.
Mike Rose is the only service member to have won BRC three times, having won each time he has entered. At Rose's first win in 2014, he entered as a 2Lt. while with the 25th Infantry Division, his partner was 2Lt. John Bergman - Together making them the youngest winners. In 2017 while with the 75th Ranger Regiment, Rose (now a Captain) entered and won with MSG. Joshua Horsager. (Horsager was the oldest winner at 39). In 2019 Rose again partnered with John Bergman (now a Captain), this time representing the 101st Airborne Division. In 2019 the rules were modified to allow contestants only a maximum of 3 entries over their career, making Rose's achievement technically impossible to beat.
Five people have won BRC twice; Paul Scurka; Eric Turk; Walter Zajkowski; Timothy Briggs; (each with different partners each time); and John Bergman; who was Mike Rose's partner for two of Rose's three wins.
Sergeant Major Thomas Payne, who won the 2012 competition as a Sergeant First Class, had his
Distinguished Service Cross upgraded to the
Medal of Honor
The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest Awards and decorations of the United States Armed Forces, military decoration and is awarded to recognize American United States Army, soldiers, United States Navy, sailors, Un ...
. He was presented the Medal of Honor by President
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...
on September 11, 2020, the 19th anniversary of the
September 11 attacks
The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...
.
The 2020 Competition was scheduled to be from April 16–18 but due to the ongoing
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
, officials decided to cancel the 2020 event but with plans to continue with the 2021 competition.
List of past winners
References
External links
*
{{United States Army Rangers
United States Army Rangers