RAMBLER BATTALION CADETS EARN NORWEGIAN FOOT MARCH BADGE

By Capt. Jonathan Reeder Assistant Professor of Military Science Loyola University Chicago 4th Battalion, 414th Regiment Senior Reserve Officer Training Corps 1st Brigade, 104th Division (LT)

As a member of the 4/414 BN (SROTC), I am privileged to be in a position to work directly with cadets support training events and provide Military Science instruction. My TPU colleagues and I fill in critical gaps to support the program, which only has a small number of Active-Duty cadre and is spread across five universities on the Northside of Chicago and its suburbs. One recent event that I had the chance to participate in along with Cadets was the Marsjmerket or Norwegian Foot March.

The event was held on November 11, 2022, at a nearby U.S. Reserve Center in Fort Sheridan, IL. The cool and overcast conditions on that Veterans’ Day morning made for ideal weather for a long ruck march.

The Norwegian Foot March began as a standard event in 1915 as a test of marching endurance for Norwegian soldiers at the end of infantry training. It has grown in popularity in the last few years, along with many other foot-marchbased decentralized foreign awards. The Norwegian Foot March consists of a 30km (18.6 miles) ruck march with a dry ruck weight of 11kg (24 lbs), making it longer but lighter than a traditional Army 12-mile ruck that requires 35 lbs. Although the time standards differ for age and gender, the 4-hour and 30-minute requirement for men under 35 means a pace of roughly 14.5 minutes per mile, faster than the 15 minutes per mile Army standard. So, it is a faster ruck, too, if completed to the required standard. In other words, you probably must run to make it. Organized by a Libertyville, IL-based U.S. Army Recruiting Company in conjunction with the Norwegian Defense Attaché, the event provided participants a chance to earn the Norwegian Foot March Badge. The first completed ruck earns the participant a bronze badge, the second a silver, and the fifth a gold. It was our first attempt for all of us from the Rambler Battalion, so bronze was the goal. After learning about the event at the start of the Fall Semester, 32 Rambler Battalion Cadets and I jumped at the opportunity to join. We made up roughly a third of all event participants. The Rambler Battalion cadet leadership, with CDT Maraget Roou as OIC, devised a training plan and encouraged the participation of fellow cadets. Rambler Battalion Senior Military Instructor Master Sergeant Cory Plunk remarked, “Veterans’ Day is a federal holiday, and none of these Cadets were required to show up. That we had such a high participation rate speaks volumes about the Rambler Battalion.”

We joined some Active-Duty recruiters, while the rest of the participants came from U.S. Army Reserve units in the Chicagoland area. After the march, I was admittedly sore but proud to have earned the Bronze Badge along with 24 Rambler Battalion cadets, who made up nearly half of the badge earners. The Cdets are already looking forward to earning the Silver Badge next year!

• Safe, pet-friendly women’s college campus

• On-campus apartments for you and your children

• Medical, mental health, legal and social services

• Free childcare + on-campus children’s school

• Degrees you want (Nursing, Business, Pre-Vet + more)

• Generous transfer credit policy + apply for free

You can earn your college degree.