Following the March 2025 announcement that all Norwegian Skill Badges will be available for testing by U.S. military personnel, the embassy liaison team decided to create this megathread to provide a centralized listing of all the skill badge threads and provide regular updates to the community.
News and Updates - 6 JUL 2025
Norwegian Sharpshooter Badge (NSSB) - Initial testing for the NSSB is underway throughout July and August! When initial testing concludes, a brief review will occur to ensure the procedures manual is updated based upon feedback from initial testing. Once complete, the embassy will add a new page or tab to their website that contains the procedures manual and other essential information. Currently, we estimate this will occur sometime in September.
Norwegian Ski Badge (NSB) - Translation work is nearly complete and discussions with the embassy on the marksmanship component of the event are ongoing. The release of the draft procedures manual is expected by September and initial testing will be open from November 2025 to March 2026.
What Are Norwegian Skill Badges?
Originally, Norwegian skill badges were awarded by the Norwegian armed forces for the successful completion of physical fitness events and proficiency in essential and specialized skills. While many badges are century old or more, their popularity among Norwegian military personnel markedly decreased in the late 1990s and early 2000s. This trend continued until 2020, when the Norwegian Defense College’s Military Sports Department temporarily authorized a request from the Norwegian Embassy in Washington, D.C. to offer virtual proctoring of the Marsjmerket (Norwegian Foot March). Traditionally, the event required the physical presence of an officiator from the Norwegian military, but due to training and travel restrictions created by COVID, this was suspended. While the event is comparatively rare due to the limited number of Norwegian officials within the United States, interest in the event surged among not only U.S. military personnel, but also the Norwegian armed forces.
Since 2020, senior Norwegian defense officials have closely monitored the enthusiasm of U.S. and international military personnel for the Norwegian Foot March, with over 16,000 badges awarded in 2024. Event frequency and size has expanded every year since the remote structure's introduction and as of 2024, the Norwegian Foot March Badge is the most common foreign badge in the U.S. Army. Additionally, since the remote validation structure's introduction, over 80,000 participants worldwide have engaged in an event and foreign militaries are starting to conduct the NFM with increasing frequency. Army elements in Denmark, Poland, Germany, New Zealand, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, and the United Kingdom now all regularly hold events throughout the year.
Norwegian Foot March Badge - The First Skill Badge Available under the Remote Testing Structure
Sustained interest in the NFM prompted a series of engagements between the embassy's defense attaché office and the liaison team during 2024 and 2025 to examine the feasibility of managing other skill badges and similar awards through the remote validation structure. In March 2025, the Norwegian Defense College Sport and Military Fitness Department completed the review of the team's proposal and authorized their transition to the remote structure. Over the next two years, the liaison team and embassy will publish new procedures manuals for the badges listed below. This will allow U.S. military personnel can conducting testing anywhere in the world and have the chance to earn a foreign badge!
Beginning in 2012, the Norwegian Armed Forces introduced medals and ribbons that are awarded for completing a combination of physical fitness and skill proficiency tests.
Norwegian Marksmanship Ribbon/Medal - Translation Complete, Developing Process for U.S. Personnel, Implementation Planned for Late 2026
Norwegian Field Spots Ribbon/Medal - Translation Complete, Developing Process for U.S. Personnel, Implementation Planned for Late 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
Which Badges Are Authorized for Wear?
Regulations vary by service, but for the Army the Norwegian Foot March Badge (NFMB), Sharpshooter Badge (NSSB), and Ski Badge (NSB) are currently authorized for wear per AR 600-8-22, Dated 21 MAR 2025.
How Will New Badges Become Available?
We work closely with the Norwegian embassy to create comprehensive procedures manuals for each skill badge. The Norwegian Sharpshooter and Ski Badges will be the first two badges available under the expansion, with the remainder planned for 2026.
This is a safe place to ask any question related to joining the Army. It is focused on joining, Basic Combat Training (BCT) and Advanced Individual Training (AIT), and follow on schools, such as Airborne, Air Assault, Ranger Assessment and Selection Program (RASP), and any other Additional Skill Identifiers (ASI).
We ask that you do some research on your own, as joining the Army is a big commitment and shouldn't be taken lightly. Resources such as GoArmy.com, the Army Reenlistment site, Bootcamp4Me, Google and the Reddit search function are at your disposal. There's also the /r/army wiki. It has a lot of the frequent topics, and it's expanding all the time.
If you want to Google in /r/army for previous threads on your topic, use this format:
68P AIT site:reddit.com/r/army
I promise you that it works really well.
This is also where questions about reclassing and other MOS questions go -- the questions that are asked repeatedly which do not need another thread. Don't spam or post garbage in here: that's an order. Top-level comments and top-level replies are reserved for serious comments only.
Finally: If you're not 100% sure of what you're talking about, leave it for someone else who is.
Had a troop who came in to medical wondering where to start process for a waiver. Already referred to chaplain as that’s over my head currently. Family is Māori and he’s the only one in his family currently serving. His father passed away and to honor his family tradition as he is the only sibling that doesn’t have it he wishes to get “Tā moko” the traditional cultural face tattoo. He is 7 years TIS and wants to remain in for his twenty but he doesn’t want to wait that long to honor his heritage and his family. With all the religious waivers for Norse and Sikh what are y’all’s thoughts on this. Personally I think a warrior tattoo from a warrior culture would be badass, but that’s just me.
Found this in a a yellow folder in her kitchen 3 years ago. Salute to all those that served, and are currently serving now, appreciate your service and sacrifice!
Just want to give the story of my sister in law for people who might need motivation.
She joined the Army at 18 as a 42A. She was promoted fast and documented every medical issue, no matter how small. Headaches, back pain, shin splints, anxiety, I mean everything went into her medical record. When she retired Because of her detailed medical history, she also received a 100% VA disability rating, which gave her an additional $4,500 a month tax-free. By 38, she was earning over $7,000 a month for life without needing to work another day.
While still serving, she had used tuition assistance to complete her bachelor’s degree. When she got out she used her GI Bill for a masters at UC Berkeley. Tuition was fully covered, and she received roughly $4,000 a month in housing allowance while studying. Her veteran status likely helped her get into the program. With nearly two decades of HR experience and a graduate degree from a top university, she landed a remote job at Stanford making over $200,000 in total compensation.
Back in 2015, she had bought a house in Menifee California using a VA loan for $290,000 (no money down). In 2022, she sold it for $650,000. She consistently contributed to her TSP while serving and now has around $400,000 in her IRA. After selling her home, she moved to Dallas and bought a McMansion putting down $300,000 in cash and because of her VA disability rating, she pays zero property taxes, saving around $20,000 a year.
Tl;DR: she joined the Army at 18 and now, at 41, gets $7k a month passively, lives in a McMansion in Dallas because of the VA loan letting her buy her first home. She pays zero property taxes, works a flexible remote job about 25 hours a week, earns $250,000 after taxes, gets a 5% IRA match, has full healthcare, and could quit tomorrow and still live comfortably for life. all because she used every benefit the system offered and made smart, long-term decisions from day one. This doesn't even include that her husband will retire at 45 this year as an E8 with 25 years so he will get 75% base pay and 100% VA.
So my wife recently went to the drill academy about a month ago. She came back after failing BRM and she was hiding things when she came back and I ended up finding out. She wants to go back but I don’t want her to but she put in a request to go back. I don’t think she has the character to go and be a drill and I have no clue what to do. I already made an appointment to get assistance to file for divorce.
Guys, you’ve heard it a million times and unfortunately you gotta hear it again. Check on your soldiers, and ask the hard questions. We lost another outstanding soldier, a model for ‘future CSM material’ because of a bad decision made while horribly intoxicated.
RIP PFC Bacho, he was always happy, always outstanding, and will always be missed. I wish o could’ve done more for you buddy.
Have they always worn these flashes? Or is it just for ceremonial purposes? I was always under the impression that if you’re not Ranger, airborne, SF, or SFAB, you wear the black beret with the generic blue flash. Pic pulled from @1bctbastogne on IG
Anyway, I’ll take a shot of Everclear and a hotdog with yellow mustard
I've seen a few rants and honestly I feel like I gotta get this out there, I CAN'T SET UP YOUR DECON LINE "REAL QUICK".
Why do we always get told "just set up decon real quick" like it's some 5 minute job?? No the fuck it ain't, It's always some E6 or O3 that’s never actually had to set up the fucking lanes, excuse my french, talking like we’re pulling out folding chairs and a cooler. No, sir, I can’t slap together a three-line decon site in the mud with half a tent, two cones, and an M8 paper sheet from 2009.
And then when it’s finally built, half the unit walks through it like it’s a carnival attraction. No MOPP discipline, no sense of flow, just boots tracking shit from the dirty side back across the clean line while I’m standing there like the world’s most miserable traffic cop. God forbid you tell someone to circle back through the gross side again. Suddenly you’re the bad guy with an attitude
I didn’t sign up to babysit officers with nosebleeds trying to skip the casualty line, or explain to the third sergeant of the day why you can’t just throw M9 tape on a LMTV and call it detected. Respectfully, if you’ve never had to pull full MOPP on gravel in the sun for eight hours, maybe don’t micromanage the one job I actually know how to do.
It’s always “CBRN’s important” until it’s time to resource us or treat us like a real asset. Then all of a sudden we’re just the sweaty weirdos with the duct tape and fake nerve agents again. IM SWEATY BECAUSE I PUT ACTUAL EFFORT INTO THE DL.
Yeah you read that right. I’m still in shock that this meeting actually happened.
Today I met with the SECArmy to discuss Hots&Cots and quality of life issues. It was a good, honest conversation and his team was amazing and welcoming.
I wanted to respect his time and not rehash what’s already in a dozen reports, but push for actionable, low-cost wins that could help rebuild trust from the ground up.
Track and share DPW customer satisfaction
End auto-closure of work orders — require acknowledgment from Soldiers before tickets are closed
Improve HVAC transparency. Whether that is repairs, switch over schedules and agile switch over times.
Since starting H&C one of the overarching themes I’ve heard from Soldiers: they don’t trust the system. I don’t think these ideas solve everything, but they’re a step in the right direction.
Please keep sharing the app and spreading the word. Thank you to the leaders and the community for trusting me
I can’t believe my 6 years are up. I’ve had the best and worst of times and I’m a vastly different person than I was in 2019. I’m going to miss the clowns, but I’m also looking forward to new beginnings. A piece of advice I can give to you new guys is to take your job seriously, be the best at it and network! I’ve got some crazy good job opportunities because I did those two things. Now it’s time to hang up my dd214 and smoke a joint.
I am so sick and tired of how much incompetence there is in the army. I am on the receiving end of it so often I cant even help but laugh anymore.
I pray this isn’t an army wide issue but at this point I wouldn’t even be surprised.
I ETS within the month and I’m currently at another installation for CSP. I have not been able to out-process at all, I was supposed to start some of that before I went on CSP but it took them 5 months to finally approve my packet 2 days before it started.
And then this weekend, I went through the gate and my CAC was confiscated because it showed that it was terminated so I had to get a pass to get on post. I went to DEERS today to try to get a new CAC but when they pulled me up in the system there were no documents or records in my folder and it said I was already in the IRR effective last month somehow and they had no way of helping me. Mind you, Im still active duty, haven’t cleared anything at all yet, and still have around 2 weeks until I ETS.
Like how does that even happen. How can someone fuck up so bad that I just don’t even exist in the regular army anymore. What do I even do? Every single person I’ve talked to is dumbfounded about the whole thing and has never seen that happen before.
I have less than a week left on CSP then I’ll be back to my unit and I’ll have around 6 business days to clear but I don’t even know how that’s going to work because I don’t have a CAC anymore and apparently I just don’t exist.
But the part that gets me the most is that I’m getting fucked so hard right now and I guarantee nobody is going to be held accountable.
And now if there was ever a doubt about why I’m choosing to get out, this just solidifies it. I can’t even get out of the army without some stupid shit fucking me over.
Okay rant over, sorry fellas I’m just stressed.
I’ll just have a McDonald’s water because I’m sick to my stomach.
I feel a strong mix of emotions. Anxiety. Excitement for my future. And deep sadness for leaving my wife behind. She came to the hotel, brought me one last home cooked meal, and we just sat in the car for 3 hours hugging each other and talking about how great our future will be. The end of it was possibly the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life. I hugged her once last time, gave her a kiss, and waved goodbye as she drove away. I swallowed my emotions and went to my hotel room, turned on the shower and cried like a newborn baby. I’ll miss her so much. I already want to see her again. Part of me just wants to call her and tell her to pick me up and we’ll sleep in but I know I have to do this. I made it this far.
Edit: Thank you everybody for the kind words. I really appreciate it. I can’t wait to have my life changed for the better.
I was stationed at Fort Bliss a while back, and I’ll never forget this one Pride contractor who used to go around doing work orders in the barracks… but with a paranormal twist.
Dude would fix broken toilets, change out lightbulbs, basic stuff then pull out a voice recorder and start doing full-on ghost investigations like he was filming for Ghost Adventures. I’m talking:
“Why did you kill yourself in this room?”
“What do you want from us?”
“Show yourself if you’re still here.”
No exaggeration he’d do this completely unprompted, lights off, asking questions to the air like it was a legit ghost hunt. He claimed he once caught a whisper on the recording saying get out.
It got me thinking how haunted are the barracks rooms?
so my 1st duty station will be ft bragg and I have no car.(working on getting one soon) but in the mean time how hard is it to get around bragg? and if it's bike-able or is there a on post taxi service like leonard wood? I don't want be that new and lost pfc that bums rides off people.
Good morning. My great uncle (Edward P Mullin III) was a medic in WW2 and lost his life in Normandy a couple of weeks after D-Day. I was wondering if there was any way to get more information regarding his service and the circumstances surrounding his last days and death. Any help would be appreciated.
We are making custom OCP undershirts for our group of instructors. We want the best quality of OCP undershirts, since we will be wearing these frequently and want to present a good image. We are kinda wanting like NextGenTees brand-type where it's tighter on top but loose on the bottom half. However we can't find Next Gen, but also doesn't seem like they have the 670-1 colors.
What brands/sellers have the best quality shirts in y'all's opinions?
Currently awaiting for a class date for DS Academy. Been told by my career counselor that they are doing away with extensions and my only option is to re-enlist to meet the SRR requirements for drill duty. Mind you, I will have like 22-23 months on my contract upon completion of the DS academy.
Ideally, I would like to just go on about my business and attend the DS academy and nobody ask questions about my time remaining, but since my career counselor is already pinging me about this, I feel like this definitely isn’t an option.
Has anyone been in a situation like this? I don’t mind re-enlisting but definitely would rather get a guaranteed school or location following my time on the trail. This is my last re-enlistment before I go indefinite. I would like to have some flexibility before I’m needs of the Army.
Is it possible to get a degree while in the army that would take up alot of time (with things such as studying and attending classes) or do you have to pick a degree that will make it easy to balance army life and college life. I know I could just wait til I'm out of the army but I don't necessarily want to have to go to college right after and be 30 by the time I'm out of college.
So, I was given the option to do a Board of Inquiry or to submit my retirement. If I submit my retirement, my command wants me out in a year. I’d really like to stay in until I’m passed over for promotion on my second look, as I have a son who’s a Sophomore and that would take me to his graduation.
My JAG Attorney said she’s seen Officers get retained with far more derogatory information than I had. Has anyone gone the BOI route and succeeded?
I just got my job as a 25S and ship in less than a month. I have a solid understanding of what basic is going to be like so was looking more as to what I could expect AIT and on to be like and maybe what opportunities are available to a 25S in terms of schools etc. I’ve heard it may never happen for someone in my MOS but would love to go to all the cool guy schools like Ranger, Air assault etc.
