Army Rangers delivered a clean sweep in the 2026 Best Squad competition, claiming all three of the Army awards decided through the event. Five Rangers from the 3rd Ranger Battalion emerged with the squad and individual honors.

The result marked the second clean sweep by Rangers across the last three competitions. It also placed the Army’s Soldier of the Year and noncommissioned officer of the year on the same winning squad.

Cpl. Michael Shield was named the Army’s Soldier of the Year. His individual victory came alongside the broader Best Squad triumph earned by his five member Ranger team.

Staff Sgt. Colin Doyle received the Army’s noncommissioned officer of the year award. Doyle and Shield therefore collected both individual honors while competing as members of the squad that took the top team prize.

The winning squad came from the 3rd Ranger Battalion at Fort Benning, Georgia. Shield and Doyle competed alongside Sgt. William Masters, Spc. William Schaeffer, and Spc. Marshall Garren.

Together, the five Rangers defeated squads from other major Army commands. Their victory secured the service’s Best Squad title and completed the sweep with the individual awards earned by Shield and Doyle.

Sgt. Major of the Army Michael Weimer announced the five Rangers as the 2026 winners on Monday. The announcement took place during the annual Association of the U.S. Army convention in Washington.

The public announcement followed a competition held in September. The Rangers spent one week facing teams representing other major commands in a demanding lineup of events used to determine the Army’s best squad.

Timed ruck marches were among the competitive events. The schedule also included marksmanship and weapons handling, forcing the squads to demonstrate their abilities across several different portions of the competition.

Medical scenarios added another element to the week. Competitors also appeared for interviews with review boards, making the contest broader than a single event or isolated physical test.

The 3rd Ranger Battalion squad had already earned its place before entering the Army competition. The team qualified after being selected as the Army Special Operations Command’s top squad.

That qualification came one month before the Army event. The progression took the Rangers from the Army Special Operations Command honor to a victory over squads drawn from major commands across the service.

Image Credit: DoW

The 2025 Best Squad competition did not produce a winner because it was canceled during a government shutdown. That cancellation left the 2026 competition as the next event following the Army Pacific victory in 2024.

Rangers had previously swept all three awards in 2023. The 2026 result repeated that clean haul, with one Ranger squad collecting the team title while two of its members seized the individual awards.

The Rangers also won the Best Squad competition in 2022. A team from Army Pacific interrupted that run by winning the 2024 event before the 2025 cancellation halted the competition for that year.

Across the last three completed events, Rangers have now produced two full sweeps. Those came in 2023 and 2026, while Army Pacific claimed the Best Squad title between them in 2024.

The 2026 victory was built around the five soldiers from the 3rd Ranger Battalion. Shield, Doyle, Masters, Schaeffer, and Garren advanced as the Army Special Operations Command’s top squad and finished as the Army’s Best Squad.

Shield’s Soldier of the Year recognition and Doyle’s noncommissioned officer of the year honor completed the Ranger haul. With the squad title already secured, the two individual victories ensured every available award went to the same team.

The Army announced the awards together at the Washington convention. For the 3rd Ranger Battalion squad, the announcement confirmed a sweep that matched what Rangers accomplished in 2023.

Five soldiers entered the competition as one squad and left with every 2026 honor. The Rangers’ performance added another Best Squad victory to their 2022 title and another full awards sweep to their 2023 result.