“I still haven’t honestly figured it out”Īfter days of field competition, the Best Warriors got to rest and clean up a bit. “I think being in Alaska develops tougher, more resilient soldiers.” “I wanted to lean into that sort of extreme,” he said. That was part of his reason for aiming to end up stationed in Alaska. Adam Krauland, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division, looks through the sights of the M249 June 3 at Grazelka Range on Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska.(Photo by Sgt. “I wanted to fundamentally change my life,” Krauland said. He resisted the gravitational pull toward a career as an officer that might put him back permanently inside of an office. He studied Mandarin at the Defense Department’s elite language school. To his parent’s surprise, he enlisted in the Army, in large part for the control it afforded him to pick the job specialty he wanted. “I feel like if we get one shot on this earth, I don’t want to spend it in the same room for 20 years,” Krauland said. He described it as his quarter-life crisis. I was going to work nine to five every day, going to the same office, seeing the same screen, printing out the same reports, you know, and I just felt like my life wasn’t going anywhere.” “It was just fundamentally unsatisfying,” Kraruland said. It was stable, well paid and sufficiently interesting work. “I was like, ‘I just gotta pay the bills.’”Įventually he traded in the life of an itinerate rock bum for the stability of a corporate job at Volkswagon as a data analyst. “I moved there for climbing and actually worked at Whole Foods for like seven months,” Krauland said. He graduated with an economics degree from a liberal arts school in the Pacific Northwest, “which is decidedly not a military school,” he said.Īn avid mountain climber, Krauland first moved to Salt Lake City, and then to Chattanooga, Tennessee, specifically for access to its world-class climbing opportunities among its abundant sandstone crags. Reared in Grand Junction, Colorado, by generally progressive parents, the Armed Forces was never discussed as an option. Krauland’s path into the military was unconventional. “I wanted to lean into that sort of extreme” Army Pacific Command, runs through a field during the Army’s Best Warrior Competition on Fort Knox, Ky., Oct. Adam Krauland, a cryptologic analyst representing U.S. The challenges were compounded by very little sleep, just a few hours a night. “All of the sudden tear-gas would come flying out,” he said. Throughout, the competitors had to deal with unexpected curveballs that tested their abilities to think quickly. “We conducted various tasks and missions, as if we were in the field,” Krauland said. There were physical fitness tests, trivia on military history and protocols, firearms drills, and a “soldier skills” component. He advanced through parochial competitions and ultimately found himself up against 11 other top-performing NCO’s during the three-day long field exercises at Kentucky’s Fort Knox earlier this month. The competition is extracurricular, something Krauland grew interested in two years ago and pursued largely outside of his day-to-day duties. Justin Earnhart, who is based in Texas, won the Best Soldier award. We’ve all been working in our free time really hard to study, to practice shooting, to physically exercise,” Krauland said during an interview at a coffee shop on base. He works as a cryptologic linguist specializing in Mandarin, an intelligence role deciphering foreign communications in the field. Adam Krauland, stationed at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson near Anchorage. The Army’s best NCO is 30-year-old Staff Sgt. It’s a prestigious distinction in the Army, bringing a promotion, and a year’s worth of commitments as a representative for the military. Of the hundreds who enter, two victors emerge: a best soldier, and a best non-commissioned officer. (Emily Mesner / ADN)Įvery year, troops from around the world compete against one another in the Army’s “Best Warrior” competition - a battery of mental and physical challenges that is something like a martial cross between “Jeopardy!” and “American Ninja Warrior.” But with considerably more sleep deprivation and live ammunition. Army, photographed at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage on Friday, Oct. Adam Krauland, a cryptologic analyst in the U.S.
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