SSgt. Angel Viveros Earns ATEC’s NCO Of The Year
by U.S. Army Ana Henderson, Yuma Proving Ground
May 29, 2025 Airborne Test Force Soldier Staff Sgt. Angel Viveros earned the title of the U.S. Army Test and Evaluation (ATEC) Noncommissioned Officer of The Year on April 30, 2025 after a grueling three-day competition. 
April 30, 2025 - Airborne Test Force Soldier Staff Sgt. Angel Viveros (center) earned the title of the U.S. Army Test and Evaluation (ATEC) Noncommissioned Officer (NCO) of The Year after a grueling three-day competition. He’s pictured with ATEC Commander Maj. Gen. Patrick Gaydon (right) and Command Sgt. Maj. Bradford Smith. (Image created by USA Patriotism! from U.S. Army photo by Lindsey Grubb, Yuma Proving Ground.)
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Viveros, who is stationed at Yuma Proving Ground and a member of Yuma Test Center’s (YTC) Airborne Test Force, volunteered to represent his unit. Each of ATEC’s subordinate organizations sent a Soldier to the headquarters in Maryland to compete.
“I had already heard about the competition, so it was a quick hand raise,” said Viveros.
“Even if I didn’t win, I feel it makes me a better Soldier, just to get the experience,” he added.
The U.S. Army's Best Squad Competition aims to, “Assess each squad on their technical and tactical proficiency, as well as their ability to work as a disciplined and cohesive team, according to the Army's website.
Each command holds a local competition to find the Soldiers who will become a squad and move to the Army wide competition. ATEC’s competition to select the Soldiers representing the organization, spanned over three days and included both physical and mentally grueling challenges.
Viveros had about a month to prepare. He had been training to overcome an injury. So, with renewed focus, he zoned into physical training.
“I knew I had to crank up the training, so going on runs, squatting, getting ready for the ACFT (Army Combat Fitness Test).”
Viveros felt confident about the physical challenges, saying “That’s my strong point.”
He recalls not feeling confident about the land navigation challenge where Soldiers were given points to find, with a map, compass and protractor. When put under pressure he reached back to his training and excelled during the daytime challenge.
“I used one of the techniques called terrain association and I was able to sprint to all my points, five points within about 40 minutes. I think I was done about two hours before everyone else.”
He praises his unit at YTC for helping him prepare.
“Sgt. Jonathan Harris, our medic at the shop. Sgt. Cody Lavalla, they took the initiative on helping me out with things I wasn’t familiar with.”
Viveros said Harris used this knowledge as an infantry man and a medic to train Viveros on the Warrior Task Lanes, Warrior Skills and Land Navigation.
“He basically me out on everything.”
Lavalla, the Airdrop Operations NCO helped him run through the entire training.
“It was about a week or two before hand, where we were going over every day, on what task we were going over in the competition. That helped me out a lot.”
Viveros is early in his Army career and hopes to attend the Military Freefall Jump Master’s School and Ranger School. This experience of being recognized at the ATEC headquarters left a lasting impression on him.
“I felt really, really proud. I had thought about all the things I had been through before, in my life and my career and just standing in front of everybody knowing I had earned this felt really good.” Our Valiant Troops | I Am The One | Veterans | Citizens Like Us U.S. Army Gifts | U.S. Army | Army National Guard | U.S. Department of Defense | |
