Soldier with PA National Guard wins regional Best Warrior Competition

A soldier with the Pennsylvania National Guard at Fort Indiantown Gap recently won the best noncommissioned officer category at the National Guard Region II Best Warrior Competition.

Sgt. 1st Class Erich Friedlein of the 166th Regiment – Regional Training Institute claimed the title after the competition at Camp Dawson, West Virginia, May 4 to 7. The competition included soldiers from Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Washington, D.C., and West Virginia.

“It feels great,” Friedlein said in a press release from FTIG, where he works full time. “There was a high level of competition there so to be able to perform well physically and complete all the technical and tactical tasks and come out on top, it feels good. It validates that I’m still trying to do the right thing and lead from the front.”

Friedlein said the mountainous terrain at Camp Dawson made the competition more difficult than he expected it to be.

“It was a very physically demanding competition, so I feel good about doing well there,” he said.

Friedlein, 41, is originally from Virginia and now lives in Fredericksburg. He joined the Pennsylvania National Guard in 2006 and is currently the Officer Candidate School course manager at the 166th RTI.

Capt. Casey Sullivan, senior OCS platoon trainer and the training officer for the 166 RTI, said Friedlein’s win came as no surprise.

“It is a testament to the discipline and technical proficiency he demands of himself,” Sullivan said in the release. “As the OCS course manager, he doesn’t just teach the standard – he embodies it. By constantly surpassing physical expectations and sharpening his tactical edge, he sets the benchmark for the entire region and always leads from the front.

“His unwavering dedication to the profession of arms makes him the ultimate example for the future officers he mentors. It is a true privilege to have the opportunity to learn from and work with him.”

This was not Friedlein’s first regional Best Warrior Competition. He also won the regional competition in 2019, then went on to win the Army National Guard Best Warrior Competition in Oklahoma.

Friedlein also competed five times in the Best Ranger Competition at Fort Benning, Georgia, and earlier this year he was part of a team that participated in the Lithuanian Land Forces’ Best Infantry Squad Competition in Lithuania. The Pennsylvania National Guard team took second place in the foreign squad category, which included teams from the active-duty Army as well as NATO allies and partners.

“The amount of miles I put on my body from other competitions absolutely prepared me for this competition,” Friedlein said.

Friedlein will now advance to the Army National Guard Best Warrior Competition, which is scheduled July 9-15 at Camp Blanding, Florida. There, he will vie against winners from other regional competitions.

He said he doesn’t have any special plans for training and will just keep doing what he’s been doing.

“I don’t really do any special training,” he said. “Just consistently run and lift. I’ll have to do a lot of studying, but that’s a little difficult with three kids, so I’ll have to find a balance there.

“I’m glad I’m still healthy enough to do this. Competitions are great. It forces you to train and exposes any weaknesses you have. I try to learn more from my failures than my successes.”