Lindberg places second at competition

Jamestown native Spc. Ryan Lindberg took second place at the Army’s Best Warrior Competition last week at Fort Lee, Va.

“I still went into the competition with the mindset that I was going to win, or wanted to win, and… it was just nerve-wracking, not knowing what the results were until today, and then coming up short,” Lindberg said.

Lindberg, a combat engineer in the 817th Company (Sapper) of Jamestown, was the only representative of the Army National Guard in the Soldier of the Year portion of the Best Warrior contest. One Army Reservist and 11 U.S. Army soldiers from around the world competed against him for the title.

“I was fully prepared for it, and I can honestly say I left it all out there. I didn’t hold back on anything, and I just came up a little bit short,” Lindberg said.

His future plans are to return to his studies in construction management and engineering at North Dakota State University, Fargo, and to do a little hunting this weekend.

Lindberg will also see a doctor to check an arm injury that occurred during the mixed martial arts portion of the competition. Despite the injury to his arm, Lindberg carried on for two more fights in order to make it to the second championship round, and earned second place overall in the mixed martial arts contest.

“It was a very good experience,” Lindberg said of the Best Warrior contest. “I can say that the National Guard competition was a lot tougher than this one… it was definitely good to see that the standards are being upheld at the Guard level.”

Sun reporter Kari Lucin can be reached at 701-952-9453 or by email at klucin@jamestownsun.com

Tags: local news, national guard, news