Best sappers: Army combat engineers win back-to-back honors

The winners of the Best Sapper Competition might look a little familiar because, well, this is their second year in a row winning the prestigious — and rigorous — annual competition of Army combat engineers at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.

Capt. Joseph Palazini and Capt. Matthew Cushing of the 101st Airborne Division are the first pair to win the Best Sapper Competition twice in back-to-back years. The duo beat out 100 other pairs from 23 Army installations and 46 battalions in the 50-hour event spanning Friday to Monday.

“It feels good to do it again, but at the same time, it’s more to drive my own soldiers to do better and try to push more guys to come to Sapper school,” Cushing told Military Times. “It’s something to walk away with, pat yourself on the back, but figuring out how to do better for the next people, so, that’s really the biggest thing to walk away with. We know our stuff, let’s get our guys to know their stuff.”