National Guard Sgt. Thomas Carpenter, a Holland Patent resident, picked to train for Best Ranger Competition

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Sgt. Thomas Carpenter (left) takes a break with 28th Infantry Division Command Sgt. Maj. Chris Kepner during the Best Ranger assessment day on Nov. 20, 2014.

LEEDS, NY (12/10/2014)(readMedia)-- New York Army National Guard Sgt. Thomas Carpenter, a Holland Patent resident, is one of nine Army National Guard Soldiers chosen to train for the Army's Best Ranger Competition in April 2015.

Carpenter was one of 12 National Guard Soldiers from across the country who participated in a one –day assessment on Nov. 20 at Fort Benning, Georgia. The assessment tested the Soldiers endurance, strength, and overall physical capability.

The nine Army National Guard Soldiers who made it through the initial assessment will train from mid-January through April to pick six Soldiers who will make up three two-man teams.

Rangers are Soldiers who have completed an eight-week school that teaches military mountaineering skills, combat patrolling, small unit tactics, infiltration skills, land navigation, marksmanship, assault boat handling and even ship-to-shore operations. Soldiers who pass the course must be in exceptional physical condition.

The Best Ranger Competition is a 60-hour non-stop event designed to challenge the fitness and skills of the toughest Soldiers. Events the two-man teams are faced with can include a 20 mile march, a 4.7 mile rucksack run, tests of rifle and pistol marksmanship, climbing, weapons assembly and disassembly, swimming, obstacle course, and a bayonet course.

The average competitor, according to the Ranger Challenge website is 28 years old, 5 foot, 10 inches tall, weighs around 165 pounds, and is in excellent shape.

Competitors are required to be airborne qualified. Carpenter is not, but if he gets selected for the team, he'll be sent to airborne school.

The day-long assessment was designed to test the physical ability of the potential competitors, according to John Burns the assistant operations officer for the Warrior Training Center.

The 12 potential Best Ranger competitors were tested on their ability to run five miles, pump out push-ups, sit-ups and chin-ups, conduct a six-mile equipment run, go through a 12-mile foot march, pass through a tower assault course, an obstacle course, and pass day and night land navigation course, as well as stay alert for briefings. The assessment lasted 11 and- a- half hours.

While the Best Ranger Competition-now entering its 32nd year-was originally started as an internal competition, in recent years the event has been covered by ESPN and TV news shows.

It was good to be chosen in the top nine, Carpenter said, but it also shows that he has a lot of work to do if he is going to be one of six National Guard Soldiers competing in April.

'I thought I was prepared and it was an eye-opener," Carpenter said.

For example, one of the competitors, Captain Robert Killian from Colorado, ran his five miles in under 30 minutes, and all of the others are extreme athletes.