WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
- Staff Sgt. Noel Berges and Sgt. 1st Class Kevin Harrington won the Army and Army Reserve drill sergeant titles.
- Fourteen competitors from 13 units completed 34 graded events during the intensive 72 hour competition at Fort Jackson.
- The winners will serve at Fort Knox as basic training experts and help plan the 2027 competition.
- The contest was the first since recruiting and initial training moved under the Army’s reorganized force generation command.
The Army has crowned its top drill sergeants after an intensive 72 hour contest that demanded far more than a booming voice and an intimidating campaign hat.
The competition concluded Wednesday at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, marking the first winners since recruiting and initial training moved under the same three star command.
Staff Sgt. Noel Berges of Leesburg, Virginia, was named the 2026 U.S. Army Drill Sergeant of the Year. Sgt. 1st Class Kevin Harrington of Mauldin, South Carolina, claimed the corresponding title for the U.S. Army Reserve.
The old image of a drill sergeant relying on insults, fury and flying spit was nowhere near enough for this contest.
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Today’s drill sergeants must be physically fit teachers, coaches and speakers who can evaluate future soldiers on training that could eventually separate life from death.
Command Sergeant Major Joseph W. Wilson, senior enlisted leader for U.S. Army Recruiting Command, said the winning drill sergeant would “be a critical thinker” capable of identifying problems and producing solutions.
Before the competition, Wilson said he wanted “a well-rounded drill sergeant, not just somebody who’s physically fit and looks good on paper. I’m looking for someone that has thoughts and ideas, and can effectively communicate them not only to the command here but to the force.”
Image Credit: DoW
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Harrington offered a similarly expansive description of the job after winning the Reserve title.
The role, by his account, reaches well beyond giving commands and correcting trainees.
“To be a drill sergeant means you are a coach; you are a mentor. You are a father; you are a chaplain.
You are everything and anything to the trainees and future soldiers of America,” Harrington said in the Army release announcing his selection.
Drill sergeants are generally midcareer noncommissioned officers assigned to teach new trainees as a broadening assignment.
Along with recruiters, they are among the first Army personnel responsible for shaping civilians into new soldiers.
“Decades from now, soldiers will forget many names, but they will never forget the name, the face, or the standards of their drill sergeant,” Wilson said in the release.
The 2026 competition measured much more than volume and uniform sharpness.
Competitors led fitness exercises, taught military formations, instructed new marksmen on multiple weapons and treated hot weather casualties.
Contestants also completed written examinations covering military regulations and history.
Image Credit: DoW
Interviews before a board were included among the 34 graded events conducted during the three day competition.
Fourteen competitors representing 13 active duty and reserve units participated. They arrived from training locations across the force, with photographs showing extremely tight haircuts and uniforms without a visible thread out of place.
Berges and Harrington will next begin leadership roles at Fort Knox as the command’s basic training experts.
Their responsibilities will include public engagements and visits to different training locations, where they will observe operations and provide recommendations to command leadership.
The winners will also lead planning for the 2027 competition.
Their assignments come as the Army continues implementing a broad command overhaul affecting the recruiting and training pipeline.
In 2025, U.S. Army Recruiting Command became the service’s “force generation command” as part of an Army modernization effort.
The Fort Knox based command now oversees the pipeline that turns civilians into soldiers.
The command falls under Transformation and Training Command, known as T2COM, which was activated earlier in the year to streamline the Army’s force structure. Wilson said the organization is still working toward becoming fully operational.
According to Wilson, the streamlined arrangement has already helped leaders balance recruiter and drill sergeant billets.
“I can see the recruiter strength, and I can see the drill sergeant strength,” he said, explaining that commanders can anticipate where drill sergeants with particular military specialties will be needed.
“It allows us to kind of flex where we send those drill sergeants,” Wilson said.
The restructuring also created a pool of soldiers who can return to the operational force or potentially serve as instructors or drill sergeants.
The Army had increased recruiter numbers by about 1,200 soldiers during previous fiscal years, according to the U.S. Army Recruiting Division.
It returned approximately 500 of those soldiers during fiscal 2025 and 2026, while the remaining surged recruiters are expected to complete their obligations and return to the Army in fiscal 2027.
Wilson previously served as a drill sergeant but never entered the competition, something he said he wishes he had done.
He said the assignment broadened his experience beyond the infantry by placing him alongside engineers and human resources specialists.
“When you’re young, your MOS is the only one that matters,” Wilson said. “It really broadened my aperture and made me appreciate what everyone else does in the Army,” he added.
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