NY Army National Guard Soldiers competing in national Best Warrior competition in Oklahoma

Soldiers from Greenwood Lake and Yonkers represent northeast in national Army National Guard competition

Two New York Army National Guard Soldiers are at Camp Gruber, Oklahoma this week participating in the Army National Guard’s nationwide Best Warrior Competition.

Sgt. 1st Class Martin Cozens, a resident of Greenwood Lake, N.Y., assigned to Alpha Company, 2nd Battalion, 108th Infantry Regiment, and Cpl. Joseph Ryan, a Yonkers resident and a member of Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 69th Infantry Regiment, are among 14 Soldiers competing to be the best in the 330,000- member Army National Guard.

The winners of the event will compete against the top Soldiers from the Active Army and Army Reserve to be the overall Best Warriors in the Army.

The event began on Monday, July 13 and ends on July 20.

Cozens is competing against other non-commissioned officers, while Ryan is competing in the junior enlisted Soldier category.

The two men beat out competitors from around the northeast, during an April competition in New Hampshire, to make it to the Oklahoma competition. This was the second year in a row that New York Army National Guard Soldiers beat other competitors to go onto the national level competition.

The Best Warrior competition tests Soldiers marksmanship, physical fitness, military skills and military knowledge.

  Joseph Ryan, Martin Cozens, soldiers, yonkers