CCAD Soldier Competes on Army’s Global Stage

CORPUS CHRISTI ARMY DEPOT, Texas — Corpus Christi Army Depot has become a proving ground for Best Warriors. In 2021, CCAD’s SPC Christian Kerkado-Colon won the Army Materiel Command Best Warrior Competition. Now, five years later, SPC Colton Kittrell won the AMC Best Warrior Competition and advanced to compete at the Army-level Best Squad Competition, with results expected in October.

“Representing CCAD and the Army Materiel Command team at the Department of the Army level in the Best Squad and Best Warrior Competition is a premier achievement,” Depot Sgt. Maj. Jeremy Bucholtz said. “This milestone stands as a powerful testament to the command’s combat readiness, and places AMC’s technical professionals’ shoulder to shoulder with the Army’s premier tactical and maneuver formations on the global stage.”

AMC is focused on delivering Ready Combat Formations and enhancing the Soldier experience

This Texas native’s story mirrors that of football legends: a backup quarterback patiently waiting for his moment, then stepping in during a conference championship game before the Super Bowl after an unexpected injury to the starter — yes, he is a Dallas Cowboys fan.

The squad leader originally scheduled to compete in the Army Best Squad Competition in Washington, D.C., was sidelined by an injury. Because SPC Colton Kittrell performed strongly at the AMC competition, besting peers in physical events and skill-level 10 soldier tasks such as weapons assembly and land navigation, his performance made him the clear choice to fill the vacancy.

SGT Christian Violette, a military police officer at CCAD who competed in the same event in 2025, served as Kittrell’s mentor and sponsor, offering perspective on what to expect. This year, she was selected as cadre, part of the core team responsible for instructing, mentoring and evaluating competitors, allowing her to watch Kittrell’s progress firsthand at the AMC level.

“It was extremely rewarding to see him grow as both a soldier and a person, especially for someone relatively new to the Army and CCAD,” Violette said. “Earning a place on AMC’s Best Squad and helping bring the title back to CCAD was a significant accomplishment.”

In preparation for the competition, Kittrell traveled to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, to earn the Expert Soldier Badge (ESB), an Army proficiency badge awarded to personnel outside infantry, special forces and medical specialties. Earning the badge requires demonstrating mastery in essential warrior tasks across multiple disciplines over several days.

When describing the focus required to complete each task, Kittrell explained: “I block out everything else and concentrate solely on the task at hand. Whatever they tell us to do becomes my full focus. I rely on my training and just work to complete each task to the best of my ability.”

The path to earning the ESB begins with a physical fitness assessment: Candidates must complete hand-release pushups, a sprint-drag-carry and a 2-mile run. A single failed event means immediate disqualification. Those who pass advance to land navigation, conducted both day and night, where each Soldier must locate every point to move forward. Candidates then enter the heart of the testing: three distinct lanes. The weapons lane tests Soldiers on 10 tasks across the Army’s critical weapon systems. The medical lane challenges them with 10 lifesaving skills, including requesting medical evacuation, providing care under fire, controlling bleeding, treating complex wounds and operating under chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear conditions. Finally, the patrol lane tests 10 battlefield fundamentals: moving under fire, communicating by radio, navigating with a global positioning system, applying camouflage, operating night vision devices, reading maps and transmitting accurate reports.

The Army must become a more agile fighting force with a lower signature and increased lethality in a contested environment.

Kittrell credits his parents with his success. They instilled in him a strong work ethic that he carried into the competition: refusing to quit and never giving up.

“Basically, I learned that I could accomplish anything I set my mind to, so I never gave up and that mindset stuck with me throughout the competition,” Kittrell said. “There were plenty of tough moments when I thought, ‘I must keep pushing,’ and that determination is what helped me get through.” The Army will provide trained and ready forces, capable of combined arms maneuver in a multi-domain operating environment.

The final event tests skill under extreme fatigue: Candidates must clear, disassemble, reassemble and perform a function check on a rifle, then immediately shoulder their ruck and begin a 12-mile foot march. Completing this push is the final step to earn the Expert Soldier Badge, preparation that proved invaluable for the competition ahead. When asked about the most challenging event, Kittrell said, “I’d say the toughest challenge was the 18.6-mile ruck march, especially because it came at the end of an already brutal day.”

For Kittrell, the morning of the 18.6-mile ruck march kicked off with the Army Combat Fitness Test, followed immediately by a bayonet course and an obstacle course. Next came the combat water survival event at Victory Pond on Fort Moore, Georgia, where Army Rangers train. Perhaps the Rangers caught a glimpse of a future recruit. Kittrell then traversed a narrow plank about 30 feet in the air, climbed a rope, plunged into the water, swam to shore and started running again. He then sprinted up a tower nearly 50 feet high, ziplined off it, dropped into the water, climbed out and kept going to finish another obstacle course.

By nightfall, Kittrell and the other competitors were exhausted, physically drained from nonstop events. That is when the 18.6-mile ruck march began. “That march was, without question, the hardest part,” Kittrell said. “Doing it after everything else, with your body already spent, made it incredibly challenging. We had to finish within four hours and 30 minutes, so there was no room to slow down. It was the toughest day of the entire competition, and the ruck march at the end pushed me to my absolute limit.”

Kittrell was inspired to enlist in the Army by his brother, who was serving at the time. His brother called joining one of the best decisions he had ever made, advice Kittrell took to heart. Kittrell credits the Army with setting him up for long-term success through valuable benefits and the opportunity to build enduring professional relationships.

“I went to the recruiter, talked things through and looked over a few job options,” Kittrell said. “I ultimately chose military police because it interested me, and I knew it was something I could rely on in the civilian world through a career in law enforcement.”

In his short career in the U.S. Army, SPC Kittrell has truly embodied the service’s motto, “Be All You Can Be.” He is interested in transitioning to the active-duty Army, earning a degree in business and attending Ranger School. Kittrell reflected on his experience: “I never thought in a million years that I would be able to push myself physically and mentally that hard.” He added that competitions like this are invaluable for professional growth. “Any Soldier interested in competing should absolutely consider it. It’s great for your career, and I’d recommend it to anyone willing to take on the challenge.”

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