PORTSMOUTH, N.H. -- “You can do it!” “Come on, Taylor!” “You’re almost there!”

The cheers of the soldiers I’d just met the day before carried me over the finish line with a few minutes to spare. I took a few more wobbly steps and gratefully dropped the 35 lb. pack I’d been carrying for the last 7 1/2 miles. I was the last to finish and I didn’t expect the welcoming party.

Twelve soldiers from various units in the New Hampshire Army National Guard, two from the 157th Airlift Wing, N.H. Air Guard, and I spent much of Oct. 13-14 striving for the German Armed Forces Military Proficiency Badge at the University of New Hampshire in Durham, N.H., and at Pease Air National Guard Base in Portsmouth, N.H. This award is one of the few foreign badges U.S. forces are allowed to earn and wear, and the process to gain it is arduous, to say the least. But receiving an award is not the sole benefit of the event.

“It definitely boosts morale,” said Sgt. 1th Class Sage Ladieu, an attrition and retention NCO from Center Barnstead N.H., Recruitment and Retention Battalion, and the assistant facilitator of the event.

Retired Maj. Robert Sanders of Kennebunkport, Maine, and a senior military science instructor, UNH Army ROTC, and the event’s primary facilitator, learned of the badge during one of his several tours of duty overseas when he was stationed in Germany. He competed in the event during that tour and was awarded a badge.

Not many soldiers get a chance nowadays to earn a foreign award, Sanders said. Providing his cadets with an opportunity to experience the event, maybe earn a badge and put their soldier skills, agility, endurance and strength to the test was something he really wanted to do.

After receiving the necessary certification from German headquarters in the winter of 2010, Sanders was able to set up the first competition in New Hampshire in May 2011 for his cadets. This peaked such an interest that he sponsored another one later in May, opening it to National Guard members as well (which is when Ladieu tested, received gold and became acquainted with the course) and the two arranged similar testing in August and October. The next German badge qualification event is scheduled for spring 2012.

We started Thursday at UNH’s Durham campus, and participants went first to Ladieu’s local recruiting office to take care recertifying for the Combat Life Saver course requirement. Since I’d taken the first aid course in basic training earlier this year, I simply showed my certificate, thankful to be a rookie, and waited while everyone else sweated it out. Fortunately, everyone passed the test and we all moved on to the track and field events at the training facilities nearby.

We started out with a 100 meter sprint, broken down by age group and gender, which went well and went by quickly. From there, we all moved indoors for the long jump and shot put in order to get out of the steady drizzle.

These events, while not too strenuous for the average in-shape service member, just aren’t something a person does on an ordinary day. It took several of us a few tries to find the right combination of speed and upward momentum to make the distance for the jump, and I saw one soldier put so much power behind the shot put that his throw went well beyond the requirement and almost cleared the sand pit we were aiming into.

Once we completed these tasks and emptied the sand out of our shoes, we went back out into the rain for the distance running. To pass, males were required to run 3000 meters (nearly two miles) in under a certain time, dictated by age; females had to do 2000 meters (about 1 1/4 miles). It was a soggy run, easier for some than others – four would have to retake the run at a later date – and this concluded the events of the first day.

Each event presented its own challenges, said Master Sgt. Lore Ford of Hillsborough, N.H., and the battalion security NCO, 54th Troop Command. For Ford, being able to do events that he thought he couldn’t, such as the long jump, was a great personal triumph.

We returned to UNH early on Friday for the 200 meter swim, once again dividing up by age and gender. As the sport I played growing up was swimming, this was the one event I found least challenging, though my arms were just as leaden as any other’s when I climbed out in the end.

Once we’d changed into our ACUs (and airmen into their ABUs), we checked our packs to make sure they weren’t too heavy or light, and then continued out to Pease for the last two portions of the event. These tasks would determine if we’d get a bronze, silver, or gold badge – or any badge at all.

First, we had to qualify with a 9 mm pistol on a 25 meter range. Given five shots, we had to achieve three hits for bronze, four for silver, and five for gold. Being the ambitious sort, I went for gold. Of course, that also meant I’d have to complete the next and final event, a 12 kilometer, or 7 1/2 mile, ruck march, in less than two hours. Ugh.

The route for the march took us about 3 3/4 miles out from Pease into the Great Bay National Wild Life Refuge and back. The drizzling, gray day gave way to a steady rain not long into the trek, and l lost sight of the next-closest marcher after about the second mile. Way back in last place, the only company I had was when Ladieu and Sanders would circle around in the trail car, calling out both encouragement and the amount of time elapsed.

As I neared the turnaround point, however, I was greeted by other participants on their way back who cheered me on, offering advice and encouragement.

Their words buoyed me to the turnaround and most of the way back, and then the thought of finishing at all kept me moving forward. As I neared the end, the other female in the competition, coaxed me into a wobbly jog for the final 100 yards or so, and I was touched to see that everyone else was still there, waiting for me to finish.

Some of them, such as Maj. Eric Hogancamp, from Bradford, N.H. the (incoming) deployment cycle support coordinator, Joint Forces Headquarters, one of the oldest participants and the first to complete the ruck, had been done for half an hour or more.

Their presence and their cheers brought me over the finish line, the last of the group to earn a gold badge that Friday, Oct. 14.

Of the 15 participants who started the event Thursday, Oct. 13, nine earned gold the next day; another four would have to complete the requirements at a later date.

Finishing every event, gaining a badge and spending the next 24 hours too sore to move, however, were only a few of the things I gained in the experience. I was left full of awe over my teammates accomplishments, as well as curiosity about why they’d stayed to cheer for me at the end. After all, running to the nearest hot tub would’ve been very understandable. After asking around, some of the veterans explained it to me.

It’s in the Soldier’s Creed to never leave a fallen comrade, Ford said. Hogancamp agreed adding:

“It’s just what you do.”