FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. — A pair of Soldiers with the Defense Threat Reduction Agency are this year’s Best CBRN Warriors after a four-day battle during the 2025 Sgt. 1st Class Jeremiah W. Johnson Best Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Warrior Competition at Fort Leonard Wood.
Staff Sgts. Joseph Carri and Joseph Stone, CBRN specialists with DTRA, headquartered at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, proved their superior ability to protect, assess and mitigate.
The winners are no strangers to the Best CBRN Competition, Carri participated once before, and this was Stone’s fourth time to participate in the competition, and second time to win it.
Stone won in 2021 when he was a sergeant with the 112th Chemical Recon Detachment at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington.
Carri is currently stationed at Fort Belvoir, while Stone is at DTRA Europe in Germany.
“We both love competing. We actually competed against each other in 2023,” Stone said. “We were on a work trip to Estonia when we ran into each other. We started talking about the 2025 competition and decided we wanted to test our skills again.”
The duo said they didn’t need to prepare for the competition because they stay mission ready.
“I like competition. It is good to know where you stand,” Carri said. “We maintain our standards year-round. As long as you don’t let that slip, you are always ready.”
Stone said he enjoyed this year’s competition, even though it was the hardest one he has competed in.
“It was definitely more technically demanding than in years past. The physical events were excruciating this year. We are feeling it for sure,” Stone said.
Forty-two CBRN professionals, in 21 teams of two, squared off in this year’s competition that took place May 30 through June 2 across Fort Leonard Wood. Competitors were tested on technical and tactical CBRN tasks, ranging from night land navigation and Soldier skills to written exams, site characterization and decontamination techniques.
U.S. Army CBRN School Command Sgt. Maj. David Henderson, said this year’s competition was designed around the number 74, representing the military occupational specialty of 74D CBRN Specialist.
“We incorporated the number into as much of this competition as possible,” Henderson said. “The first thing we did is take the competition down from 96 hours to 74 hours.”
He said the written test had 74 questions, the nonstandard physical fitness test had seven different events with competitors being given four minutes at each station, the endurance test was 74 minutes of running with CBRN protective masks, and the CBRN foot march was 7.4 miles long.
For the first time, part of the CBRN competition was held off post. Spectators lined Waynesville’s Roubidoux Park on the first day of the competition, May 30, to cheer on competitors as they completed a nonstandard physical fitness test in the park.
“It was a big hit. Everybody enjoyed it,” Henderson said.
The nonstandard physical fitness test was Stone’s favorite event.
“I love hitting the ground running and seeing how much we can push ourselves physically,” Stone said. “It was really cool to have the public there to cheer us on and motivate us. We took advantage of the delicious food trucks after the event. It was great.”
Second place went to Capt. Noah Saren and Staff Sgt. Daniel Fincher, with the 4th Infantry Division, in Fort Carson, Colorado.
Third place went to Airmen from the 368th Training Squadron, Fort Leonard Wood’s Air Force detachment, Tech Sgt. Robert Sherwood and Staff Sgt. Luk Litwaitis.
This year’s competitors come from the Army, Army Reserve, Air Force, Marine Corps and the United Kingdom’s Defence CBRN Centre.
To view more photos from the competition, visit Fort Leonard Wood’s Flickr page.
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