13th Annual Warrior Competition Results

Slovakia's 5. Pluk Špeciálneho Určenia came fourth in this year's Annual Warrior Competition [© KASOTC]

Last week the Jordanian Armed Forces hosted the 13th Annual Warrior Competition for SpecOps Units at KASOTC in the Hashemite Kingdom.

¤ When possible we try to cover the Annual Warrior Competition at the King Abdullah II Special Operations Training Center (KASOTC) in even years, but 2024 has been a challenging year for me as I simultaneously battled cancer and attempted to recuperate from a fractured humerus injured in a a heavy fall on an assignment just before commencing radiotherapy so I couldn’t make this one. Maybe I’ll make it out to Amman for the 14th AWC….. insha’Allah, as our Arab friends say. Ed.

For 2024 no less than 35 Special Operations Teams from 20 different countries registered for the Warrior Competition at KASOTC and 32 of these from 18 countries made it through to the end of the arduous five days of competitive events. Unusually, this year’s competition was held in late summer with recorded ambient temperatures nudging 40°C in the Jordanian capital, but as the KASOTC combat training facilities nestle in a massive white-walled stone quarry complex the competitor teams squared-off in even higher temperatures.

This year Brunei’s elite Rejimen Pasukan Khas Team 1 were the outright winners, with the Jordanian Royal Guard in second place and Qatar’s Special Operations Forces Team 1 finishing third. Of the European Special Operations teams in the Top Ten, who in addition to participating in four days of events open to all participants also had to compete in the gruelling final King’s Challenge, teams from Slovakia, Italy and Czechia came fourth, eighth and ninth respectively. Oman, Iraq, Jordan’s QRF and Rwanda filled the other positions in the top ten. Interesting, an All-Female SWAT team from Kenya also completed the course; this is not the first time an all-female team has competed, as a little over a decade ago a female Jordanian Spec Ops team took part, but we believe it is a first for a non-Arab team.