News

Ryan Rayno, DEVCOM Public Affairs

Staff Sgt. Christopher Miller, U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command, or DEVCOM, Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Cyber, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Center, was selected as the top staff sergeant and overall winner of the DEVCOM Best Warrior Competition April 4, 2024, at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland.

Sgt. Phillip Rosales, DEVCOM C5ISR, was selected as the top sergeant of the competition.

The competition lasted three days and encompassed six events including an Army Combat Fitness Test, land navigation, an obstacle course, a written exam, a Command Sergeants Major Evaluation Board, and an 8-mile foot march.

“Overall, I think the competition did a great job of testing our physical and mental agility,” Miller said. “The Soldiers that I competed against really made me push myself, all the way down to the final event, the foot march: everyone was so ambitious, and it seemed like everyone finished within five seconds of each other.”

“Overall, I think the competition did a great job of testing our physical and mental agility,” Miller said. “The Soldiers that I competed against really made me push myself, all the way down to the final event, the foot march: everyone was so ambitious, and it seemed like everyone finished within five seconds of each other.”

Despite the cold and rain, the weather did not discourage the competitors from giving it their all.

“I think the worse the weather the better, because I love the chaos,” Miller said while laughing. “Just like we say in the Army, ‘if it’s not raining, we’re not training.’”

For Rosales, the competition gave him not only a chance to compete against others, but against himself as well.

“I mainly decided to compete in this competition because over the past few years, I was on a permanent profile for my back, and I recently came off that profile by working to get myself physically fit again,” he said. “So, to me, this competition was not only a testing point to see where I was at physically, but also as a testament to myself that I can push myself beyond the limits that I thought I had before.”

The determination shown by the competitors is what impressed Command Sgt. Maj. Brian Haydt, the senior enlisted advisor for DEVCOM, the most.

“I’m very proud of the effort of the noncommissioned officers who competed,” he said. “I’m impressed by how well-rounded they are from their physical fitness to their military bearing to their land navigation skills. They truly showed how highly trained, disciplined and fit they are.”

“I’m very proud of the effort of the noncommissioned officers who competed,” he said. “I’m impressed by how well-rounded they are from their physical fitness to their military bearing to their land navigation skills. They truly showed how highly trained, disciplined and fit they are.”

Miller, Rosalesand three Soldiers to be determined later will move on to represent DEVCOM while competing in the Army Futures Command Best Squad Competition held June 3-6, 2024, at APG.

“I feel absolutely confident that with the Soldiers that just competed, we will dominate it,” Miller said. “All of the competitors brought their A-game this week and made this competition tough.”

For Rosales, representing DEVCOM at the AFC level will be another personal checkpoint in his career.

“It’s a nice personal accolade to be selected to represent DEVCOM, and it’s a great opportunity to challenge myself further against a broader spectrum of the competition,” he said.

After observing the competition over the past week, Haydt is confidant the DEVCOM team will perform at a high level in the next round of the competition.

“I feel our team is fully prepared to be very competitive in the AFC Best Squad Competition,” Haydt said. “They have all the leadership attributes and competencies to be successful. I know they will continue to train hard to prove themselves against the best of AFC.”

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The U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command, known as DEVCOM, is home to thousands of Army scientists, engineers, technicians and analysts working around the globe to leverage cutting-edge technologies and empower the American warfighter with the data and abilities to see, sense, make decisions and act faster than our adversaries – today and in the future.

As part of Army Futures Command, DEVCOM takes calculated risks to find new technological solutions each day. Our experts drive innovation, improve existing technologies and engineer solutions to technical challenges. Our work goes beyond theory to simulation and prototyping. We take potential science and technology solutions from the lab “into the dirt” for experimentation alongside Army Soldiers. DEVCOM prides itself as a global ecosystem of innovators, from world-class universities and large defense contractors, to small, minority-owned businesses and international allies and partners.