JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas –
Four Soldiers from the 505th Military Intelligence Brigade (Theater) at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston were awarded the German Armed Forces Proficiency Badge, or GAFPB, after participating in the challenging event held at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston and JBSA-Camp Bullis March 31 through April 2.
“I exercise almost every day but I began preparing for the event over a month in advance in order to perform well,” said 1st Lt. Heather De La Cruz, one of the brigade’s Soldiers who gave her insights on what it takes to be successful. She was a gold GAFPB winner at the event.
During training, she attacked the tests she was weakest in: the chin-up hang and the swimming event. At first, De La Cruz could chin-up hang for only 30 seconds. She improved to 66 seconds, more than doubling her prior personal best, en route to winning gold.
She said future participants need to prepare for the swimming test. Service members must complete a 100-meter swim challenge within four minutes while in uniform, with no boots, then remove their uniform while treading water. There can be a 40 to 60 percent failure rate in this event.
According to De La Cruz, the rewards of participation far outweigh the challenges.
“Soldiers should definitely give it a try. It’s an amazing opportunity to challenge yourself physically and mentally,” she said. “You never know what you’re capable of until you push yourself.”
Besides De La Cruz, the intelligence brigade’s GAFPB awardees were Sgt. Faustina Mora (gold), 1st Lt. William White (silver) and 2nd Lt. Blake Harrah (silver).
"This was an amazing, first post-wide JBSA German Armed Forces Proficiency Badge event. It included all services,” said Lt. Col. Robert Wagner, event officer in charge. “They all trained hard and truly earned this very challenging award.”
U.S. Army North hosted the GAFPB event. A total of 210 U.S. service members earned a gold, silver or bronze GAFPB.
The 505th Military Intelligence Brigade, headquartered in JBSA-Camp Bullis, is a multi-component unit that conducts theater level, multidiscipline intelligence analysis operations to support Army North in the defense and security of the United States and its interests.
(Lt. Col. Robert Wagner, 4th Expeditionary Command chief of operations, JBSA-Fort Sam Houston, contributed to this article.)