{"id":81082,"date":"2024-04-24T13:39:31","date_gmt":"2024-04-24T13:39:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/uncategorized\/2024\/04\/24\/best-sappers-army-combat-engineers-win-back-to-back-honors\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T04:04:41","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T04:04:41","slug":"best-sappers-army-combat-engineers-win-back-to-back-honors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/your-military\/2024\/04\/24\/best-sappers-army-combat-engineers-win-back-to-back-honors\/","title":{"rendered":"Best sappers: Army combat engineers win back-to-back honors"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The winners of the Best Sapper Competition might look a little familiar because, well, this is their second year in a row winning the prestigious \u2014 and rigorous \u2014 annual competition of Army combat engineers at Fort Leonard Wood<\/a>, Missouri.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Capt. Joseph Palazini<\/a> and Capt. Matthew Cushing<\/a> of the 101st Airborne Division are the first pair to win the Best Sapper Competition<\/a> twice in back-to-back years. The duo beat out 100 other pairs from 23 Army installations and 46 battalions in the 50-hour event spanning Friday to Monday.<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt feels good to do it again, but at the same time, it\u2019s more to drive my own soldiers to do better and try to push more guys to come to Sapper school,\u201d Cushing told Military Times. \u201cIt\u2019s something to walk away with, pat yourself on the back, but figuring out how to do better for the next people, so, that\u2019s really the biggest thing to walk away with. We know our stuff, let\u2019s get our guys to know their stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Preparation for this year\u2019s sapper competition began only a few weeks after last year\u2019s competition concluded. The main question the competition\u2019s creators had was \u201cwho should emerge the best sapper\u201d and \u201cwhat does that skill set look like from that group of individuals,\u201d said 1st Sgt. Derek Elizardo, an instructor of the Sapper Leader Course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The answer to that, Elizardo said, was a balance between technical know-how and physicality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an even balance of physicality and just a technical individual, who can display and execute these tasks very proficiently,\u201d Elizardo told Military Times. \u201cFinding a balance for all of that kind of built a model that is this year\u2019s Best Sapper competition.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t