HELENA — A special ceremony was held on Friday to award the winners of this year's Montana National Guard Best Warrior Competition.
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This year, 13 men completed the four-day competition with 18 to 20-hour days.
For the first time, two international soldiers competed.
They are from the Maldives and were invited to the competition as the National Guard partners with the Maldivian army.
The Best Warrior Competition has over 20 events, such as performing vehicle and gear checks, assembling weapons, medical drills, and land navigation.
This year, 20-year-old Canyon Blassingame, an infantryman in the Montana Army National Guard from Bozeman, won Soldier of the Year.
"It feels really good to have won. I'm just really glad that the hard work has paid off. It feels great," said Blassingame.
Thirty-three-year-old Montana Army National Guard hazmat technician Matt Lee from Helena won Non-Commissioned Officer, or NCO, of the Year.
Lee also won Soldier of the Year two years ago.
He said, "It's a little hard to not help people. If you see someone messing up, you go to start helping them, and you realize you are indeed competing against them. It's a difficult thing to compete against the comrades that you're typically training with."
Both Blassingame and Lee will now move on to the Regional Best Warrior Competition in early May for their chance to compete on a national level.
