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SCHOFIELD BARRACKS, Hawaii — With 45 pounds strapped on their backs, two Soldiers, joined in marriage, saw the finish line ahead. Together, they completed the final challenge of the E3B and earned their badge.
The E3B combines the Expert Infantryman Badge, Expert Soldier Badge, and the Expert Field Medical Badge into one elite competition for all Soldiers, regardless of their MOS, to participate in.
“This year we had 28 competitors and 3 medics from the 130th Engineer Brigade participate in the E3B,” said Command Sgt. Maj. Christopher Shetland, the Senior enlisted advisor for the 130th Engineer Brigade.
Among those competitors, Spc. Lucia Garnica, assigned to the 130th Engineer Brigade, saw this year's E3B as one of her only opportunities to attempt and earn the Expert Field Medical Badge.
Lucia initially planned to go by herself. As the qualification date approached, her husband, Sgt. 1st Class Andres Garnica of the 25th Infantry Division, decided to participate as well.
“So originally I was gonna go by myself,” said Lucia,” and then as a last-minute thing, he was like, I’m gonna give it a try. I’m going to give it a go. He had the opportunity present itself. So we both ended up out there together.”
While both service members were training for the qualification, another obstacle presented itself: caring for their two kids.
“I told myself that there is no way that you do not get it week one of testing because my littles,” said Lucia, “I would come home every night, I wasn’t really seeing them. I wasn’t getting time to spend with them on the weekends.”
To train for the qualification, the Garnicas had to rely on their family to help with their children.
“We have two kids, and so we had family fly out here," said Lucia. “I had my sister-in-law from California, my sister from Texas, and my mother from Texas fly out every single week of the train up and the testing week so they could help us with the pick up and drop off.”
Balancing these 3 a.m. wake-ups, long training days, and family responsibilities proved difficult. However, with the constant reminder of what was back home, she was determined to get the badge.
“I wanted the badge,” said Lucia.” I worked really hard for it, but at the end of the day, in the back of my mind, it was like my kids were there. We put a lot of money into flying the family out. I was like, there’s no way we can fail. We have to push through this, and we sure did.”
Once she crossed the finish line, she found her husband and pinned on his Expert Soldier Badge, making this another thing they achieved as a family.
| Date Taken: | 03.24.2026 |
| Date Posted: | 03.27.2026 14:07 |
| Story ID: | 561406 |
| Location: | HAWAII, US |
| Web Views: | 11 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Two Badges, One Family, by SGT Samarion Hicks, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
