A two-man team of Army Rangers from 75th Ranger Regiment won this year’s Best Ranger Competition, marking the sixth consecutive year the unit has placed first in the grueling three-day event.
Spc. Caleb Godbold and Sgt. Drew Schorsch finished first after completing a host of physical, technical and cognitive tasks at Fort Benning, Georgia, over the last week.
Ranger school is widely viewed as the Army’s premier leadership and small unit tactics course. The monthslong course has a high failure rate and its graduates earn a coveted Ranger tab — worn on the left shoulder sleeve of Army uniforms — that shows the soldier completed the school.
The competition, known formally as The Lt. Gen. David E. Grange Jr. Best Ranger Competition, pits two-man teams of Ranger graduates against each other.
On Sunday, the Army published the final standings for the 61 teams, with 75th Ranger Regiment taking the top three spots.
Godbold and Schorsch faced a gauntlet of events including marksmanship, land navigation and medical tasks while under sleep deprivation and fatigue.
First conceived in 1981 as a “Ranger Olympics,” the Best Ranger Competition began in 1982 at Fort Benning. Initially limited to members of the Ranger community, the competition later expanded to include Ranger-qualified soldiers from across the force.
In 2025, the competition welcomed its first female competitor, 1st Lt. Gabrielle White, who placed 14th with her teammate, Capt. Seth Deltenre.
Female soldiers were not allowed to attend Ranger school until 2015, when the schoolhouse opened to all soldiers, regardless of gender.
Eve Sampson is a reporter and former Army officer. She has covered conflict across the world, writing for The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Associated Press.
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