This is the 2009 BRC the toughest military competition known to mankind.

The first event: the Buddy Run. The Best Ranger Competition is 59 hours of Ranger tasks spread out over 100 square miles of Fort Benning, Georgia.

As part of the Task, Conditions and Standards of the Buddy Run, each Ranger is required to wear an Outer Tactical Vest (OTV). The OTV with ballistic plates weighs more than 24 pounds. Each two-man team must stay within arms lengths of each other at all times. Unknown to the competitors the course they will cover this year, is 4.5 miles long.

Colonel Douglas Flohr: What we're doing is the Buddy Run, this morning's first event. What we like to do is stretch the teams out, as much as we can, right off the bat. What we have is 49 teams from all across the Army. This morning kicked off the event. Took off running in the dark. It's very exciting to watch them take off and head up that hill and go out into the darkness to something they don't really know what's waiting on. There is a substantial swamp right in the middle of the event and I think what you'll see is a lot of these guys will be pretty wet when they come out.

1SG Jerimiah E. Gan: Well, we kind of know what we have coming, but the biggest thing is maintaining; to be there at the end. And if you go a hundred percent through everything, there's no way you'll be there at the end.

Team 22 is the odds-on favorite to win this year. Both Rangers are past winners and understand what it takes to win.