Effective August 30, 2025, the Army Mountaineering Badge was approved for wear by service members from all Army components, replacing the Ram’s Head Device that had been previously awarded to Basic Military Mountaineer Course Graduates.
The Basic Military Mountaineer Course, Class 26-002, was the first class to receive the Army Mountaineering Badge, since its authorization by the Department of the Army.
During this Basic Course Class, one student rose above the rest. Captain Caleb Moseley, from the 20th Air Support Operations Squadron, United States Air Force, was the distinguished honor graduate for class 26-002 after scoring an impressive one thousand out of one thousand points.
“It’s a great honor to be pinned here today” Said Capt. Moseley. “I learned a ton from the cadre and really had a good time implementing that knowledge across the different challenges we faced.”
Present at the award ceremony were retired Colonel Dave Freeman and Mr. Hannes Schneider, to pin the honor graduate with the first federally recognized Mountaineer Badge. Col. Freeman served for thirty-eight years on both active duty and in the Vermont Army National Guard.
Col. Freeman, a graduate of Spaulding High School was commissioned through the Officer Candidate School and served in both armor and infantry branches. He spent time as a tank platoon leader, armored cavalry troop commander, armor battalion operations officer, and executive officer of the 86th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Mountain). Freeman was a member of the National Guard Bureau planning and development initiative of the Army’s implementation of a new Mountain Warfare Organization.
This included the Army Mountain Warfare School (AMWS), of which he was the first commander from its inception in April of 1983. He served as its first commander until 1985, he and his team were instrumental in the conceptual foundation of the training philosophy and program instruction design.
Freeman’s leadership through the initial few years of modernizing the AMWS was paramount to the future success and growth of the course and school. Today the United States Army Mountain Warfare School serves as the Army’s executive agency and subject matter expert base in military mountaineering.
“It is incredible to see how far things have come since I started.” said (Ret.) Col. Dave Freeman, “Before it was just us and the hill and then the old school, this new facility is really a marvel.”
Mr. Hannes Schneider is the great grandson of Mr. Hannes Schneider (sr.). Schneider (sr.) played a pivotal role in training the 10th Mountain Division in World War II and is renowned as the father of modern Alpine Skiing. Schneider (sr.) was born in Stuben, Austria and began skiing at the age of eight. He became a pioneer ski instructor at the age of 17 in St. Anton am Arlberg, eventually founding the Ski School Arlberg in 1921, which became Europe’s largest and most famous ski school.
Schneider was conscripted into the Austrian Army during World War I and served on Russian and Italian fronts while assigned to a mountain guide company. He realized the traditional Nordic skiing techniques were ineffective for high-speed maneuvering in steep, icy alpine terrain. He created the Arlberg technique based on a crouched stance, which was then adopted by the Austrian Army for combat movement.
An outspoken critic of the Nazi regime, Schneider (sr.) was imprisoned in March of 1938 after the annexation of Austria. After his release he fled Nazi persecution and moved to North Conway, New Hampshire in February of 1939. He took over the ski school at Cranmore Mountain, which transformed the region into a premier international skiing destination.
During World War II Schneider went to Camp Hale, Colorado to help train the U.S. Army’s 10th Mountain Division. He provided specialized technical instruction and shared critical mountain warfare intelligence with U.S. forces. His techniques are still taught and used by Mountain Warfare battalions and brigades, like the 86th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Mountain) based in Jericho, Vermont.
“It’s a massive honor to be here to represent my great grandfather and my grandfather Herbert who served in the 10th Mountain Division during the Italian campaign.” said Mr. Hannes Schneider (jr.), “I know that they would be proud to see how their legacy has evolved not only here at the Mountain Warfare School, but in sports in the region as a whole.”
Jericho, Vermont, has now grown to be the home of the U.S. Army Mountain Warfare School and its modernized techniques for high altitude maneuver, survival, and combat training.
The Vermont National Guard also finds its home here with the 3-172nd Infantry Regiment (Mountain), known as ‘The Mountain Battalion’, the first combat formation since the deactivation of the 10th Mountain Division in 1958 to be manned, equipped, and trained to close with and destroy the enemies of the United States in mountainous terrain under any and all climatic conditions. It has since grown into the 86th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Mountain).
With tens of thousands of students graduating, the school continues to train members from all military branches and components, as well as numerous civilian and foreign agencies.
“We recommend it to everyone,” said Col. Jason Beams, Commander of the U.S. Army Mountain Warfare School, “It’s a school like no other that will leave you better prepared as a warfighter.”