{"id":48099,"date":"2019-04-15T17:10:27","date_gmt":"2019-04-15T17:10:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/04\/15\/this-soldier-is-one-of-the-armys-best-rangers-for-the-third-time\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T04:04:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T04:04:16","slug":"this-soldier-is-one-of-the-armys-best-rangers-for-the-third-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/news\/your-army\/2019\/04\/15\/this-soldier-is-one-of-the-armys-best-rangers-for-the-third-time\/","title":{"rendered":"This soldier is one of the Army\u2019s \u2018Best Rangers,\u2019 for the third time"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

About a quarter of Best Ranger Competition<\/a> contestants this year had participated before, and among them were Capts. Michael Rose and John Bergman, who each had at least one win under their belts already.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division<\/a> team was honored in a ceremony Monday morning after beating out 52 other teams in the three-day competition, Fort Benning announced on Sunday. It was their second win together \u2015 they competed as second lieutenants with the 25th Infantry Division in 2014 \u2015 and Rose\u2019s third, as he competed in 2017 as part of the 75th Ranger Regiment<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe train-up, we said it\u2019s hard, but it\u2019s good Army training,\u201d Rose said in a Fort Benning release. \u201cDoing the hard things, it\u2019s fun, it\u2019s competitive. I feel like I\u2019ve been a little selfish doing the competition three times. And I\u2019ve had a blast doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team, based in Vicenza, Italy, took second place with Sgt. 1st Class Ryan Gerber and 1st Lt. Alastair Keys. In third was another 101st Airborne Division team: 1st Lts. Nathan Panick and Edward von Kuhn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe\u2019s probably the closest thing I have to a brother in the Army,\u201d Rose said of Bergman, other than his actual brothers, who are also in the Army.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was a big week for the 101st Airborne Division, in a competition that has been overwhelmingly dominated by soldiers from the Airborne and Ranger Training Brigade, the Regiment or Army Special Operations Command in its 36 years. The command also took top honors in last week\u2019s Best Sapper Competition at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe as a division could not be prouder of all of the winners, and quite frankly, of all of the teams that competed,” the 101st\u2019s spokesman, Lt. Col. Martin O\u2019Donnell, told Army Times on Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both Rose and Bergman are taking company command in the next few months, he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re not having fun in this training, then you\u2019re definitely in the wrong profession,\u201d Bergman said in the release.<\/p>\n\n\n\t