The Richard A. Leandri Trophy

In 2001 the first annual Richard A. Leandri award was bestowed upon two Best RangerCompetition competitors. This honor is awarded to the Ranger team with the best time and most pointson the orienteering course. Competitors test their teamwork, navigational skills, and physical enduranceby negotiating rough terrain in day and night while weighted down with their equipment. Richard A.Leandri activated the “Chairborne Rangers” in 1980, and dedicated hislife to helping rangers andsupporting the Best Ranger Competition.

The award is presented to the team with the best time during the night orienteering event.

Those Awarded:

2024 - 1LT Andrew Winski and SGT Matthew Dunphy

The Captain Russell B. Rippetoe Trophy

The first annual Russell B. Rippetoe trophy was awarded in 2004 to the Ranger buddy team with the best time on the grueling road march. Competitors are pushed to their limits, sometimes in excess of 20 miles with nearly 100 pounds of gear before immediately executing other tasks. Captain Russell B.Rippetoe was the commander of Alpha Company, 3rdBattalion, 75th Ranger Regiment and was killed in action on April 3rd, 2003. This award is bestowed in memory of a Ranger who never quit in the face of true adversity

Every part of this competition is deeply rooted in tradition. As G.K. Chesterton once said, "Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. Tradition is the democracy of the dead."

This community and competition honor Captain Russell B. Rippetoe, who was a field artillery officer assigned to A Company, 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, Fort Benning, Georgia. Rippetoe, from Colorado, was killed in Iraq on April 3, 2003, while securing a checkpoint near the Hadithah Dam. An explosive-laden vehicle approached the checkpoint, and Rippetoe, trying to assist a pregnant woman, was killed along with two Rangers—SSG Nino Livaudais and SPC Ryan Long.

Rippetoe was the first combat casualty of Operation Iraqi Freedom and the highest-ranking officer of the 75th Ranger Regiment killed in combat since its formation in 1983. He was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star for Valor.

In his honor, one team earns the right every year to engrave their names on the CPT Russell B. Rippetoe Trophy by securing first place in the Road Marching event. This award is a testament to his legacy.

Additionally, every Ranger competing in the annual Best Ranger Competition receives the 'Shield of Strength' coin, part of the official competition packing list. The Shield of Strength verse was strung around CPT Rippetoe's neck on the day of his passing. Shortly after his passing, Gold Star Father, LTC (R) Joe Rippetoe started to give the Shield of Strength to all competitors. He then encouraged the finishing teams to raise them high across the finish line. Traditionally, the team(s) would then be greeted by a special handshake from Gold Star father LTC (Ret) Rippetoe. Though he can no longer join us in person due to mobility challenges, we strive to keep this cherished tradition alive.

Thank you to all the competitors who honored this tradition of raising their Shield high for this sacred Gold Star Ranger family.

'So long as they speak your name, you shall never die.' #RLTW

Those Awarded:

2024 - CPT Logan Storie and CPT Chandler Ramirez

Harvey Moore-Jared Van Aalst Marksmanship Award

The Moore-Van Aalst Marksmanship Award is awarded to the team that has the highest overall score in all marksmanship events. The Moore-Van Aalst Marksmanship Award is named after 1SG Harvey Moore and MSG Jared Van Aalst.

The Harvey Moore award was a historical Best Ranger Competition award that lost continuity. Colonel Casey Mills contacted the Van Aalst Foundation and got the blessing from the Van Aalst family to resurrect the award in his name.

1SG Moore began his career of military service as a rifleman with the 4th Battalion, 54th Infantry in 1978. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion (Ranger), 75th Infantry Regiment in 1980, and served as a fire team leader and squad leader. 1SG Moore died in a training exercise, a helicopter crash, in '92.

MSG Jared Van Aalst was KIA AUG 4th, 2010 in Afghanistan. He served in 3rd Ranger BN, the Army Marksmanship Unit, and USASOC.In 3rd BN he served as a Sniper Team Leader, Platoon Sergeant, and NCOIC of the Reconnaissance,Sniper and Technical Surveillance Detachment.He served for 2 years in AMU and in 2005 won the Service Rifle Competition at the All-Army Small Arms Championship.He successfully assessed and completed training to be specialoperations team member in 2008

More Information:

1SG Moore began his career of military service as a rifleman with the 4th Battalion, 54th Infantry in 1978. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion (Ranger), 75th Infantry Regiment in 1980, and served as a fire team leader and squad leader. During this period, 1SG Moore consistently displayed unparalleled leadership and an innate ability to teach and coach Rangers. In 1984, 1SG Moore was selected to serve as a Reconnaissance Specialist for the 75thRR. From '86 to '89, 1SG served as a Ranger Instructor and Senior Ranger Instructor for the 3rd Ranger Company, The School Brigade, and the 4th Ranger Training Battalion at Fort Benning, Georgia. 1SG Moore returned to 1st Battalion, 75th RR in 1989 to serve as Platoon Sergeant, 3rd Platoon, Company C. 1SG Moore died in a training exercise, a helicopter crash, in '92.

In August of 98, MSG Van Aalst attended Sniper School and then returned to HHC, 3rd Bn., as a sniper team leader, later transitioning to squad leader in '99. After serving for two years as a squad leader, he was selected as an instructor and a shooter in the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit at Fort Benning. He served in that position for two years before returning in Sept. 2003 to HHC, 3rd Bn., as a sniper platoon sergeant. Shortly there after, he deployed on his first combat rotation to Afghanistan, then to Iraq before moving in 2005 to Co. A, 3rd Bn., to serve as a platoon sergeant. As a platoon sergeant, he deployed twice to Iraq in 2005 and again to Afghanistan in 2006. He returned to HHC, 3rd Bn., as the NCO in charge of the Reconnaissance, Sniper, and Technical Surveillance Detachment. He deployed to Afghanistan again in 2006 for his fifth combat deployment. In August 2010, at the age of 34, he died of wounds suffered while his unit was conducting combat operations in Afghanistan on his sixth deployment.

Those Awarded:

2024, 1LT Andrew Winski and SGT Matthew Dunphy

The MSG Robert (Bob) Horrigan Award

The MSG Robert (Bob) Horrigan Award, honoring the profound legacy of a respected warrior deeply connected to our Ranger community, is presented to the second-place finishers.

MSG Bob Horrigan, born January 13, 1965, in Limestone, Maine, began his military career by enlisting as an Infantryman in May 1984. His service spanned several elite units, including the 75th Ranger Regiment, the 5th Ranger Training Battalion, the 1st Battalion of the 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne), and the Joint Special Operations Command.

He competed in the 1987 Best Ranger Competition at Fort Benning, Georgia, where he placed second. He made the ultimate sacrifice defending our freedom on June 17, 2005, on his 8th combat deployment in Western, Iraq while conducting combat operations against known enemies of the United States.

Those Awarded:

2024, CPT Tanner Potter and SFC Michael Browne