Doha, Qatar home of West Virginia Guard's 2025 Best Warrior Competition

(From left to right) West Virginia Air National Guard Senior Airman Max Howard National Service Academy Recruit Nooh Mashhadi walk together during the ruck event during the Best Warrior Competion at the National Service Academy in Umm Salal Muhammed, Qatar, Feb. 3, 2025. The West Virginia Army National Guard is hosting its annual Best Warrior Competition in partnership with Qatar Armed Forces from Feb. 2-5, 2025, at the National Service Academy in Doha, Qatar. This year’s competition is the first to be hosted jointly with a partner nation outside the continental United States, and the first time that partner nation’s military members have competed alongside U.S. service members. The competition features a multitude of core competencies ranging from the Army Combat Fitness Test and weapons lanes; to a foot march and detailed individual warrior tasks and battle drills. The West Virginia National Guard and Qatar Armed Forces partnered in 2018 through the State Partnership Program, the National Guard’s flagship international affairs and security cooperation initiative. Years of combined training and development of enduring relationships between the militaries has led to this event, meant to foster more capable and interoperable partners and pursue shared objectives. (U.S. Army National Guard photo by Cdt. Ayden Norcross)