Soldiers earn German badge in two days

Photo By Nelson Ballew | Capt. Caitlin Williams, Public Health Activity – Fort Gordon leads a group of Soldiers in her quest to achieve Gold during the road-march event of the 2018 German Armed Forces Proficiency Badge testing 13 Apr. at Redstone Arsenal, Ala.  

REDSTONE ARSENAL, AL, UNITED STATES

04.13.2018

Story by Nelson Ballew 

U.S. Army 2nd Recruiting Brigade

For the third consecutive year, Redstone Arsenal has hosted German proficiency badge testing.
Seventeen Soldiers from eight different organizations competed mainly against themselves to qualify for the German Armed Forces Proficiency Badge, April 12-13.
The German badge tests Soldiers in two areas: a basic fitness test which must be completed within 90 minutes, and a five-event military training section.
Of the 17 Soldiers who competed for the badge, 14 qualified, with four earning gold, nine silver and one bronze.
Individuals who qualified for the Gold badge included Capt. Aaron Brown and Capt. Kelly Tseng, 2nd Recruiting Brigade; Staff Sgt. Matthew Harrison, Army Materiel Command Band; and Capt. Caitlin Williams, Public Health Activity-Fort Gordon, Georgia.
Brown’s accomplishment of earning a badge at any level, least of all gold, is highlighted by the fact that he learned to swim just so he could compete. Capt. Katherine Flowers, 2nd Recruiting Brigade judge advocate, taught Brown to swim.
“In all I had 18 sessions of swimming in the pool, 12 with Catherine and six on my own prior to the test,” Brown said. “Catherine is a great teacher, I cannot wait to call her and let her know that I passed the swim test.”
Garrison Command Sgt. Maj. Billy Counts, who was present for several of the events, explained the importance of badge producing opportunities on the Arsenal.
“Because of the mission and the low troop population at Redstone Arsenal a lot of these developmental, pride, badge producing opportunities are important to our active duty Soldiers assigned here,” Counts said. “Anytime we can do something like this to give Soldiers an opportunity to number one, test themselves, and number two, to earn a badge they can wear around with pride, it’s a great opportunity.”
Counts said he had never competed for the German proficiency badge but during his career had earned the German Armed Forces Marksmanship Badge as well as a German Parachutist Badge.
Sgt. Maj. Carsten Hartmann, German army liaison sergeant major to the Army Aviation Center of Excellence at Fort Rucker, conducted the qualification test.
“The challenge for those who participate: They did it in two days, we have a whole year,” Hartmann said. “That’s not a normal schedule, to just go for it, to compete in two days. I don’t know what I would do if someone said to me in order to get an award, this is what you have to do. And you only have two days.”

• Date Taken: 04.13.2018
• Date Posted: 12.27.2018 13:17
• Story ID: 305350
• Location: REDSTONE ARSENAL, AL, US