THE GRIFFON • Summer 2020 • 29
What is the Best Warrior Competition? By Spc. Kevin Caladie,
I often think back on my career in the Army, the things I have accomplished, the things I strive to accomplish, and even the things I may never What is the Best Warrior accomplish. I have stood at Competition? It’s a question the grave of Felix Modesto I struggled finding the right Conde Falcon, holding the Army words to accurately depict, colors while serving in the First but I think the best answer I Cavalry Division Honor Guard as could conjure up was honor, Gen. Milley and Command Sgt. everything that goes into it Maj. Schroeder posthumously from the competitors to the awarded the deserving hero cadre represents something of the Medal of Honor. It was so much larger than ourselves. a violently windy day and all We come together from across 187 streamers were whipping the United States to put our around, the stack of Soldiers skills as Soldiers to the test, but beside me pinned me down we aren’t setting out to honor with their shoulders because ourselves. We honor the flag on our shoulder and the patch over there is no movement, there is no adjustment. We stand our hearts. We honor those who at the position of attention died for our independence, for and by god we aren’t allowed the freedom of all our people, to have a droplet of sweat for the freedom of people so much as streak down our across the globe. We honor the foreheads. It was never even paratroopers who jumped into hell without a second thought to a question of could I hold the colors for the entire ceremony free the world from one of the most volatile, genocidal dictators in the conditions, how could it the world has ever and will ever be. I am here to honor a man who had lived with courage see. We honor the Soldiers who stormed the shores of Normandy and honor I can only imagine; fighting in Vietnam, a man who into certain death, we honor every man and woman who died died protecting his men, and crippling the enemy forces. for something much larger than Upon the completion of this themselves. ceremony now Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Milley briefly spoke with us, thanked us, and even gave us his coin. I couldn’t even register what had happened because all I wanted to do was look at the Medal of Honor up close in person as it rested on the tombstone of a fearless warrior whose soul was at rest. I hold this legendary man in my heart everywhere I go for eternity. As I prepare for my fifth Best Warrior Competition, I can’t help but think about the past competitions, most importantly my loss at Division last year. I Spc. Caladie is 2nd Brigade Soldier of the competed through the entire Year at the 104th Division (LT) BWC. competition with what I had thought was a hernia. My physical training between brigades and divisions was essentially nonexistent I was just trying to recover and I just couldn’t seem to get back to normal, the pain in my pelvis area was not unbearable but constantly restraining me from my full potential. Not competing was never a thought in my head. Thinking back on Staff Sgt. Falcon, the troopers of Easy Company at Bastogne, and Red Platoon and what they overcame at Command Post Keating, my pain couldn’t have felt less insignificant. Nothing that I face in life will ever be comparable Spc. Caladie trains incoming cadets on AT-4 to the Heroes who have come rocket launcher, West Point, July 2018. before me, so nothing will Alpha Company, 3rd Battalion, 304th Regiment (USMA), 2020 Soldier of the Year, 2nd Brigade, 104th Division (LT)
The medic checks Spc. Caladie during the 2019 104th Division (LT) BWC
stand in my way of honoring them. I competed and gave it my absolute best, and that just was not good enough. Later that summer I still couldn’t shake the pain and went to the Emergency Room to find out I in fact had testicular cancer. Honestly, I felt alone and scared. I fell into a depression, put on weight after my surgery, and frankly wasn’t honoring myself let alone the people I look up to as giants, uncommon men who found strength in each other and their cause. That was when I decided to compete again this year for the title of Soldier of the Year, I had no other choice. What better way to reestablish myself than throwing myself back into this series of competitions. I did not look the part; I believe my unit was very hesitant to send me back, being last year’s winner was probably the only reason they ended up letting me return. Where do I want to be? I sometimes think to myself I want to reach the pinnacle and stand at the mountain top as Soldier of the Year for the entire United States Army, but I’m constantly reminded by my reading or viewing of historical documentaries, that is not my goal at all. I want to honor those who came before me, I want to inspire those who stand beside me, and I want to educate those who will come after me. My passion is and has always been with the people, all people from all walks of life. Which brings me to the Soldiers I compete with. I can honestly
tell you I have never come out with the intention of beating a fellow Soldier. That is not what these competitions are remotely about for me. I want to do the absolute best I can, but not to beat the Soldier next to me. These competitions are brief, some three days and others a week. In that short amount of time we form bonds that will last a lifetime, we work ourselves to the bone and give our absolute all not just to the competition but to each other. We share the journey amongst ourselves, we even gripe and complain together, knowing full well we signed up for this and we greatly enjoy it, but sometimes it just gives us a boost in morale talking a little spit on mile 57 of rucking to our next station. We pick one another up when we are down, we motivate one another with awful cadences or popular songs sung at a tune that no one would ever want to hear. We form bonds that just can’t be formed outside of a state of suffering. In closing I will leave you with this quote, “If a man hasn’t discovered something that he will die for, he isn’t fit to live.”- Martin Luther King Jr. I think every single human being who has put that flag on their shoulder, and that patch over their heart; has given themselves up to something much bigger than themselves. Not just the country and her people, nor the Army; each one of us has given ourselves up entirely to Soldiers that stand next to us.
