Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. Home to the United States Army Sappers—the Army’s elite combat engineers— and the 2010 Best Sapper Competition.



Best Sapper is three days of extreme engineering, spread out over 75-square miles. Over the next 52 hours, these Sappers will cover more than 47-miles on foot with a 60-pound ruck on their back, competing in more than 31 individual events with very little sleep.

The objective: place extreme demands on the team's physical, mental and technical abilities as Army engineers. The standards of performance must surpass those required of the average Soldier.

Capt. Solan: SOT #1 Competitors can come to the Best Sapper Competition expecting to be tested to the fullest extent both physically and technically. No other competition in the Army, or abroad, offers the technical challenges that the Best Sapper Competition offers.

The Soldiers competing in this year's event will execute in three days what normally takes a Soldier attending the Sapper school 28-days to learn. The harsh reality is that one third of the field will be eliminated after the first 24-hours, 24-hours later another third will be eliminated, leaving only ten teams to compete for the title of Best Sapper 2010.

Capt. Solan: SOT #2 And this is the test; this is the test of whether or not you truly are that multi-faceted Soldier that's proven worthy of the title Best Sapper.