A sponsor introduces his 2022 Fort Jackson Drill Sergeant and Noncomissioned Officer of the Year Competition candidate before a formal board Feb. 8, 2022. The formal board is the second event of the first day of competition. The following week will be filled with tasks and events that will test the knowledge and expertise of the candidates.

Staff Sgt. Kiante Long, a drill sergeant assigned to Company B, 3rd Battalion, 60th Infantry Regiment, center, waits in the Fort Jackson Headquarters building before reporting to a formal board Feb. 8, 2022. The board is part of the 2022 Fort Jackson Drill Sergeant and Noncomissioned Officer of the Year Competition. The candidates will compete in a series of events and tasks to determine the best of the best.

Fort Jackson is on the hunt to name the 2022 Drill Sergeant, Noncommissioned Officer and Soldier of the Year. Eleven Soldiers have stepped up to compete for the top title and move on to the Training and Doctrine Command-level competition later this year.

“It’s not easy, it’s not designed to be” said Master Sgt. Donald Baker, noncommissioned officer in charge of the competition. “It is designed to push them mentally and physically. They will be pretty wiped out by tomorrow night.”

The week-long competition began Monday afternoon with a packing list layout followed by the Army Combat Fitness Test and formal board presided by a board of command sergeants major. Post Command Sgt. Maj. Philson Tavernier presided over the board.

Sgt. Jose Ducassa, 1st Battalion, 34th Infantry Regiment, plots a series of land navigation points on a map during the 2022 Fort Jackson Drill Sergeant, Noncomissioned Officer and Soldier of the Year Competition Feb. 8, 2022. Land navigation is one of a series of events that will test the Soldier's skills under pressure during the week. Competitors also spent the night as the land navigation range after they completed the task.

“Are we ready?” Tavernier asked as a sponsor was invited into the conference room to introduce his candidate.

One by one, the candidates were grilled with questions, creeds and their uniforms closely scrutinized.

Once complete, there was no time to waste as the candidates changed out of their dress uniforms and donned their combat uniforms and field kits. Busses gathered the candidates and delivered them to Mekong Delta, the day and night land navigation course.

“This is my first time competing,” said Staff Sgt. Levi Miller, a drill sergeant assigned to Company B, 1st Battalion, 61st Infantry Regiment. “I’ll be doing lots of stuff but we have land navigation tonight. I think I’ll be strongest at land navigation.”

Staff Sgt. Jeff Tupuola, a drill sergeant assigned to 2nd Battalion, 60th Infantry Regiment, makes a call home after completing a day into nigh land navigation event Feb.8, 2022, during the 2022 Fort Jackson Drill Sergeant, Noncomissioned Officer and Soldier of the Year Competition. All competitors were given a chance to use their phone after they completed the event and before they bedded down for the night at the testing site.

A candidate of the 2022 Fort Jackson Drill Sergeant, Noncomissioned Officer and Soldier of the Year Competition eats his dinner by headlamp light after completing the day into night land navigation event Feb. 8, 2022. After completing the event, the candidates made Mekong Delta training site their home for the night before continuing more range events the next morning.

A Blackhawk helicopter conducting low altitude, nap-of-the-earth exercises over Mekong Delta land navigation range at Fort Jackson, S.C., Feb. 8, 2022. Eleven Soldiers competed for the top title during the 2022 Drill Sergeant, Noncomissioned Officer and Soldier of the Year Competition. The Blackhawk crew hovered above the Soldiers checking out the group as they searched for their points.

A 2022 Fort Jackson Drill Sergeant of the Year Competition candidate gets some shut eye at the Mekong Delta Land Navigation range on Fort Jackson, S.C., on Feb. 8, 2022. He and 10 other Soldiers completed a day into night land navigation event and made the site their home for the night before moving into another series of competition events the next morning.

Once at the site, Army Apache and Blackhawk helicopters buzzed the site as they conducted nap-of-the-earth exercises, occasionally hoovering for a moment to check out the action as the candidates checked their compasses, plotted their points and confirmed their pace counts before heading out.

Each candidate had three hours to find a total of five points. The more points found within the given amount of time resulted in higher points achieved.

“I just finished land navigation,” Staff Sgt. Jeff Tupuola, a drill sergeant assigned to 2nd Battalion, 60th Infantry Regiment. “I’m confidant whoever wins this will go home bloody because that’s what I’m here for. If I’m here away from my Family, I’m gonna make it count.”

Tupuola explained that even if the competitors were friendly to one another, once the competitive events began, the competition became fierce. Tupuola had the third fastest land navigation time finding all five points.

As the last of the competitors returned, they settles around the cement pad at the entrance to the navigation course. The spot would be their home for the night.

After waking beds of frost in the morning, the competitors had an hour to conduct personal hygiene, change clothing and pack before bussing to the ranges.

For the rest of the week, each competitor will complete the M4 rifle and grenade range, confidence course, individual Soldier tasks, buddy movement tasks and the final 12-mile foot march event.

“Confidence is the key to winning this,” Staff Sgt. Scott Smith, a drill sergeant assigned to Company A, 3rd Battalion, 39th Infantry Regiment. “I’m 100% confidant I’m going to win this.”