'By Far the Hardest Thing I Have Done': Aviation Soldiers March Through Arabian Desert for Nordic Skills Badge
21 Apr 2021
Stars and Stripes | By Chad Garland
Some 100 U.S. soldiers in Kuwait grabbed their loaded rucksacks and marched through the desert in a bid to prove their mental and physical endurance was up to Nordic standards.
Those who finished the 18.6-mile trek in under about 5 hours earned a badge first awarded in 1915 to Norwegian recruits who completed the challenge in preparation for service in northern Europe.
Many of the Americans with the 28th Expeditionary Combat Aviation Brigade at Camp Buehring, Kuwait, suffered blisters, cramps, chafing, muscle soreness or all of the above during the Saturday night march, the Army said in a statement Wednesday.
https://www.military.com/daily-news/2021/04/21/far-hardest-thing-i-have-done-aviation-soldiers-march-through-arabian-desert-nordic-skills-badge.html
