IU ROTC members fight for German Armed Forces Badge

There was no crowd cheering and no Big Ten championship to claim. They weren’t even wearing cream and crimson.

During the weekend, a team of 11 Army Reserve Officer Training Corps cadets slipped into uniform to defend their Hoosier pride in the German Armed Forces Badge for Military Proficiency competition.

Last weekend, IU Army ROTC hosted its sixth annual competition. More than 230 cadets from 32 schools across the Midwest flooded Gladstein Fieldhouse and Camp Atterbury, an Indiana National Guard training base in Edinburgh, Ind.

IU is the only school nationwide where other schools congregate to compete against each other, said Lt. Col. Michael Ogden, director of military science and commander of IU Army ROTC.

“It is just a way to have some competition for our cadets,” Ogden said. “They don’t get to go toe-to-toe on the basketball court or football field.”

The German Armed Forces Badge for Military Proficiency is a military skills test open to any member of the Army. A foreign badge founded by Germany, it was made available to U.S. service members in 1972. Both German soldiers and members of their allied forces are eligible to compete for the high honor.

“It’s important because it’s something different to meet another country’s requirements, to share something, to give something back,” said Sgt. Maj. Frank Zindel, the competition’s German Army liaison. “It requires skills these cadets are not usually doing during their career, and it’s interesting to see them compete in this environment.”

The badge is awarded on three levels: bronze, silver and gold. Participants’ rankings depend upon their performance in the 10-kilometer road march and pistol shooting exercise portions of the weekend.

But a participant can fail out of the competition if he or she is unable to complete a list of other tasks, too, including a 200-meter swim, 5-kilometer run, written first aid exam, long jump/high jump, shot put and 100-meter sprint. If a participant fails just one of the skills, he or she is eliminated for the weekend.

“It’s challenging in a different way,” IU senior cadet Matt Dunaway said.

Dunaway served as the cadet officer in charge of the weekend’s events, coordinating with the other 30 senior cadets in the program to plan the competition.

He said he participated in the competition both his sophomore and junior years, failing his first time after running the Saturday morning 5-kilometer in freezing weather on sheets of ice.

But he said he told himself, like many who fail their first time, “I can’t let the German badge beat me.” He passed his junior year.

Now, as a senior with his badge, he sees the prestige in the accomplishment and the value of the competition.

“It definitely requires you to push yourself mentally and physically,” Dunaway said. “It’s a great thing for everyone to participate in and something you can wear your whole life. It helps bring all these schools from around the U.S. together and gives cadets a chance to build camaraderie and talk about each other’s programs.”

But the Hoosier team effort extended beyond the IU competitors.

“Everything that happens this weekend is a direct result of our seniors,” Dunaway said.

The group of 31 seniors prepared for the weekend for three months, coordinating registration, food, accommodations and volunteers to run the events. They also were responsible for compiling data on the badge status of each cadet throughout the weekend.     

“This gives every soldier an opportunity to show physical and mental strength,” Zindel said. “It is very well-planned and well-organized. Every time I am here, it’s fantastic to see all of these young cadets. It’s not easy to earn that badge, and these cadets are prepared for that.”    

IU team captain and senior cadet Derek Remlinger said he has been preparing his team for months by conducting the initial tryouts, planning workouts and selecting the final team. Under Remlinger’s guidance, the team ran together at the 5-kilometer and marched as a group for the road march, where they were required to carry a minimum of 35 pounds on their backs.

“It’s for team support and motivation. You really try harder when people expect it out of you,” he said. “You have to be really well-rounded to compete. Everyone that makes it to Sunday are those really well-rounded guys you want.”

Eight of the 11 competitors on the IU team made it to the Sunday road march at Camp Atterbury. Four finished with a silver badge, and four finished with gold.

Zindel presented cadets who passed the competition with their German Armed Forces Badge for Military Proficiency at a ceremony Sunday afternoon. Western Michigan was the best team overall, claiming nine gold badges for their team. Of the 230 cadets registered for the competition, 149 advanced to Sunday. Eighty-nine earned gold, 27 earned silver and 33 claimed bronze badges.

Although he had hit all five targets time and again in practice, on Saturday, senior cadet Steve Szrom missed the mark and didn’t advance to the track-and-field section of the competition. Instead, Szrom positioned himself by the long jump, giving remaining competitors, not just IU cadets, pointers on how to refine their technique.

During the road march Sunday morning, he walked up and down the trail, encouraging each cadet he passed. Dunaway pointed out this was just another example of the spirit of IU Army ROTC.

“It’s like Lieutenant Colonel Odgen always tells us, ‘Go out to be the best,’” Dunaway said.