Soldier from Hillsborough named Army's 'Best Warrior'

Ham, 21, outperformed 21 other soldiers in weeks of grueling fitness challenges, written exams and warfare simulations in the annual Best Warrior Competition to capture Soldier of the Year honors.

"I named him David after King David in the Bible, who was a warrior, and I believe that God just put a calling on his life to serve in the capacity of warrior. So, he’s walking out his calling," Ham's father, Hazen Ham, said Monday.

A member of the 25th Infantry Division's 3rd Brigade Combat Team, David Ham is stationed in Hawaii but is currently on a three-week training mission.

He told the Army News Service the cumulative physical and mental stress of the final week of competition was the toughest part.

"Every day, you were just more tired, more fatigued," he said. "It's some of the most functional, realistic training I've ever experienced in my Army career. I'll be able to take it back and re-enact parts of it and use that for soldiers underneath me and beside me. It'll greatly benefit the force."

David Ham will spend the next year traveling as a representative of the Army.

"He can pick any duty station in the world he wants to go to, He can go to any of the Army schools he wants to go to, so he’s immediately going to set off on training schools – Airborne, HALO, Rangers," his father said. "He can realize all of his dreams. There were some setbacks early on in his Army career that have just melted away because now he can write his own ticket."

The victory has also inspired David Ham's four siblings.

"He was always a leader, kind of, but getting to sit back and watch him succeed is really awesome," Daniel Ham said. "It inspires me to push hard."

"When we would Facetime with him and talk to him at night and just hear everything he’s going through and everything he’s learning and all the setbacks he’s going through, it's amazing to see how he carried that and how he got through it," Abigail Ham said. "You might have been going 24 hours nonstop, and yet you’re still going and still have a positive attitude, and I think we can really take that into life."