KATTERBACH, Germany (April 13, 2015) -- Soldiers, from 5-158th General Support Aviation Battalion and 412th Aviation Support Battalion, 12th Combat Aviation Brigade, received valuable experience and training with Soldiers from the German army's 472nd Logistics Battalion from Amberg, Germany, April 7 - 9.
U.S. Soldiers competed for two days attempting to earn the coveted German Schützenschnur award and the German Armed Forces Badge for Military Proficiency.
"Our Soldiers are always trying to be a part of the German Armed Forces Proficiency Badge and Schützenschnur competitions," said 1st Lt. Andrew Parker, assistant operations planning officer for the aviation battalion and the officer-in-charge for the events.
The German Armed Forces Badge for Military Proficiency and the Schützenschnur are awards of the Bundeswehr, the German armed forces.
The fitness portion consisted of a 1,000-meter run, 10-meter shuttle run, flexed arm hang and a 12-kilometer ruck march. During the shooting competition, Soldiers must qualified with the Heckler and Koch G36 assault rifle, and the Heckler and Koch universal self-loading pistol, or USP, P8 pistol.
"We had about 150 Soldiers for the fitness portion and almost 170 Soldiers for the shooting portion on Thursday for 320 slots total," Parker said. "Soldiers could opt to do the German Proficiency Badge only, or the Schützenschnur only, or a combination of both."
In the U.S military, these two awards are part of a few approved foreign awards, as well as some of the most sought after because they can be worn on the dress uniforms.
"It is an honor for us that you [the U.S. Army] would ask to do this. We see that the Soldiers have trained so hard for this event," said Bundeswehr Sgt. Enreco Broce, 472nd Logistics Battalion. "The organization is awesome, the best that I have seen."
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