JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS, Nov. 7, 2024 — Eighteen Soldiers from the U.S. Army Medical Center of Excellence and its subordinate commands competed in teams of two for the title of Best Medic during the MEDCoE Best Medic Challenge held at Joint Base. San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston and Camp Bullis November 3 – 7, 2024.

Sgt. 1st Class Kenneth Cavender and Sgt. 1st Class Patrick Vela, who represents the MEDCoE Headquarters Support Company, are this year’s Top Medics and will compete in the CSM Jack L. Clark Jr. Best Medic Competition in early 2025.

The first and second placers are Sgt. 1st Class Gilbert Garcia and Staff Sgt. Jarrod Green of the 232nd Medical Battalion 2nd Lt. Skyler Larsen and Sgt. 1st Class Ryan Campbell of the 264th Medical Battalion. In total, nine teams competed in the event from all four MEDCoE battalions, the Medical NCO Academy and the Headquarters Support Company.

The challenge allows MEDCoE Soldiers, who are often trainers and instructors, to compete and demonstrate their proficiency in their profession to peers, subordinates and superiors. It also demonstrates soldiers’ strength, adaptability and training in a variety of austere environments through a range of tasks and challenges. The event included the Expert Field Medical Badge Physical Fitness Assessment, Water Combat Survival Test, Trash Obstacle Course, Rifle Qualification, Warrior Tasks and Combat Exercises, Day and Night Land Navigation, Non-Traumatic Patient Assessment , extended casualty care, mass response. with an air medical evacuation, written test and culminated in the Norwegian Foot March. The NFM is a 30 km (18.6 mi) march with an 11 km (25 lb.) rucksack. Eight competitors won a bronze Norwegian marching badge, and Larsen won the only silver among the teams.

This year’s top doctors began preparing for the event months in advance.

“We prepared a lot physically and mentally for this,” Cavender said. “Months before the competition, we completely overhauled our training programs, you know, to gear them more towards what the competition will entail, a lot of running, rucking and medical tasks.”

Cavender, himself a combat medic, is also an EFMB test control officer and says he will continue to train and prepare physically and mentally for the next two months, but says he won’t stress.

“I usually try not to stress too much about it,” he explained. “A lot of people tend to worry about what other teams are doing and what the competition might entail, and just like we did with this one, we’re taking it one day at a time, one task at a time and we just worry about our team is all you can really do is focus on yourself but I try not to stress about it.

This year’s event focused on training soldiers to win against any adversary in a joint, multi-domain, high-intensity conflict. As the US Army transitions from brigade-centric warfare to large-scale combat operations, multi-domain operations, and force modernization, the role of providing medical care must also change to meet the needs of the Army. Operational forces will require Army medical professionals to be more trained and capable of providing medical support in large-scale combat operations.