The Maine National Guard on June 4 held the 2023 Outstanding Airman and Best Warrior ceremony to recognize Maine soldiers and airmen who have distinguished themselves in their fields.

Each service component has its own standards for selecting the award recipients.

The Army Best Warrior competition consists of 15 events over a 36-hour period, designed to test soldiers’ tactical abilities, technical competence and physical stamina. These events include an oral interview board, live fire weapons event, live fire stress shoot, timed written test, day and night land navigation, physical fitness test, 12-mile ruck march with 35lb pack, and various Army warrior task evaluations. State winners represent their state at the regional competition, and regional winners go on to the national event.

The Outstanding Airman of the Year program calls for each state’s headquarters to select nominees in three categories: Airman, Non-Commissioned Officer and Senior Non-Commissioned Officer. Nominees for First Sergeant of the Year and Honor Guard Member of the Year are also submitted for their respective categories.

Additionally, the Maine Air National Guard selects and recognizes a Company Grade Officer of the Year. All candidates are rated on their performance for the previous calendar year in the following areas: leadership, job performance, fitness, education, community service, and civilian employment.

Following the formal award presentations, all winners also received a command coin from Brig. Gen. Dean Preston and Brig. Gen. Frank Roy, commanders of the Maine Army and Air National Guard, respectively.

2023 Maine Army National Guard “Best Warrior” winners:

Soldier of the Year

Spc. Zakary Toothaker, 488th Military Police Company

Spc. Zakary Toothaker Maj. Carl Lamb photo

Toothaker, from Jay, distinguished himself above his peers at his unit level competition last fall, won the state competition as the Soldier of the Year in April, and won the Region 1 Best Warrior Competition (New England, New York, New Jersey) in May. He will compete at the national competition in Alaska in July.

Non-Commissioned Officer of the Year

Sgt. Jacob Dow, 1136th Transportation Company

Sgt. Jacob Dow Maj. Carl Lamb

Dow, from Eddington, distinguished himself above his peers at his unit level competition last fall, won the state competition as the NCO of the Year in April, and represented the state at the Region 1 Best Warrior Competition in May. Dow scored among the top 3 in every event during this competition, finished second in Region 1 in the NCO category, and will continue to prepare for the national competition in July, should the winner be unable to attend.

2023 Maine Air National Guard winners:

Outstanding Airman of the Year

Senior Airman Matthew Hamel, 265th Combat Communications Squadron

Senior Airman Matthew Hamel Maj. Carl Lamb photo

Hamel, from Windham, deployed to Headquarters, United States Air Forces Europe and Africa Command, working in the satellite communication operations office, where he supported 38 gateway access requests and 54 super high frequency satellite access requests, providing communications to North Atlantic Treaty Organization response forces deterring Russian aggression in support of the European Defense Initiative.

Outstanding Non-Commissioned Officer of the Year

Tech. Sgt. Branden Barnikow, 265th Combat Communications Squadron

Tech. Sgt. Branden Barnikow Maj. Carl Lamb photo

Barnikow, from Topsham, deployed to Headquarters, United States Air Forces Europe and Africa Command, where he spearheaded six communications requirements, coordinating necessary bandwidth upgrades to six organizations supporting the European Defense Initiative which enabled four MQ-9 unmanned aerial vehicles to maintain 180 flights, accumulating 1,900 flying hours.

Outstanding Senior Non-Commissioned Officer of the Year

Senior Master Sgt. Kyle Milan, 101st Civil Engineering Flight

Senior Master Sgt. Kyle Milan Maj. Carl Lamb photo

Milan, from Old Town, deployed to U.S. Central Command’s Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia as a Fire Chief. During this time, he was the incident commander for five large incidents involving unexploded ordinance, a large fuel spill, and a mass casualty event where he directed 25 first responders with no lives lost.

Outstanding First Sergeant of the Year

Master Sgt. Scott Morrill, 101st Medical Group

Master Sgt. Scott Morrill Maj. Carl Lamb photo

Morrill, from Bar Harbor, initiated the MAINEiac for a Day event for the Gross family, whose father was killed in the line of duty for the Hancock County Sheriff’s Department. The mother brought their two children, and each brought a friend for the day’s events, where they toured the hangar and KC-135, utilized the flight simulator, experienced the boom simulator, and were presented with several MAINEiacs gifts and apparel.

Outstanding Honor Guard Member of the Year

Tech. Sgt. Chelsea Kennie

Tech. Sgt. Chelsea Kennie Maj. Carl Lamb photo

Kennie, from Standish, served as the lead non-commissioned officer of the Honor Guard for multiple retirement ceremonies in addition to providing process improvements through fine tuning procedural instruction for Honor Guard members, resulting in precision close order drill movements during the station’s ceremonies.

Outstanding Company Grade Officer of the Year

1st Lt. Matthew Stewart, 243rd Engineering and Installation Squadron

1st Lt. Matthew Stewart Maj. Carl Lamb photo

Steward, from Brunswick, was selected as director of the Maine Air National Guard Special Programs, where he identified capabilities of the Depot Cyber Fielding Team to support mission requirements for the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center’s Command and Control, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance and Mission Planning System divisions. That resulted in $3.7 million of manpower and $650,000 of travel and material procurement funding to support five Air Force weapons systems.

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