CAMP SMITH TRAINING SITE, Cortlandt Manor, N.Y. — Two hundred and eleven New York National Guard Soldiers and Airmen tackled the rugged trails of the Hudson Highlands Aug. 28 to earn the Royal Danish Air Force March ribbon.

The event, hosted by the 53rd Troop Command, required participants to carry a 23-pound pack on a 20-kilometer (12.4-mile) course.

The march was sanctioned by the Royal Danish Air Force’s A7 Training and Exercises Office as a decentralized host site for its annual endurance trial, known as the Flyver March.

According to the Danish Air Force, more than 45,000 American service members took part in the event in 47 states and 27 countries, Stars and Stripes reported.

First established in 2021 at Karup Air Base in Denmark as an initiative to build camaraderie across military branches, the march has since expanded to international partner military host sites. Under Danish regulations, remote host installations must field at least 50 military participants to conduct an official iteration.

The New York turnout of 211 actively serving Army and Air National Guard members far exceeded that standard.

A smaller contingent of New York service members completed the march the following day at Hancock Field Air National Guard Base in Syracuse.

Camp Smith Training Site serves as the New York National Guard’s primary military training installation in the Hudson Valley.

Its firing ranges and tactical facilities support combat marksmanship, officer candidate schooling and pre-mobilization exercises year-round. The event used the post’s steep road and trail network to test operational stamina under load.

Marchers reported for initial weigh-ins at 6 a.m., verifying each rucksack met the mandatory 10-kilogram (23-pound) dry baseline. Completing the 12.4-mile course with the certified weight qualifies personnel to wear the Danish Flyver March medal and ribbon on Army and Air Force service uniforms under Army Regulation 600-8-22.

The formation stepped off shortly after 7 a.m.

Among the ranks was Brig. Gen. Jason Lefton, commander of the 53rd Troop Command and the senior officer participating, who completed the march alongside his brother, Lt. Col. Aaron Lefton, commander of the 2nd Battalion, 106th Regiment (Regional Training Institute).

While the Danish endurance trial has no official completion time cutoff, several service members used the event to gauge individual fitness against Camp Smith’s demanding elevation.

Maj. Dennis Tierney, an operations officer with the 53rd Troop Command, was the first across the finish line with an estimated time in the low two-hour, 20-minute range.

Tierney credited recurring training runs up local Hudson Valley landmarks, including Anthony’s Nose, for preparing him to navigate the terrain.

“I knew the field would be full of strong, competitive participants,” Tierney said. “The event reinforced that when you put in the grueling trail miles ahead of time, your body and mindset will hold strong when it counts.”

Finishing next after Tierney was Spc. Quintin Bowman, a petroleum supply specialist with the 204th Engineer Battalion, who logged an official time of two hours and 39 minutes. Bowman, who previously earned two Norwegian Foot March badges, completed the Camp Smith course for the first time.

“Finishing reminded me that pain is temporary and that I’m capable of doing things that my mind might try to convince me that I can’t,” Bowman said.

Bowman said he maintained his pace with Tierney for most of the march.

“Surrounding yourself with people who have positive outlooks in difficult situations builds a type of resiliency like no other,” Bowman said.

Sgt. 1st Class Leon Mabra III, an automated logistics sergeant with Camp Smith Training Site garrison, finished third in just under three hours.

“I learned that despite my age, my mind and body will continue to perform as long as I listen to it,” Mabra said. “I am most proud of the fact that I finished third and under three hours with this difficult terrain.”

The Camp Smith iteration was organized by a multi-unit committee headed by Lt. Col. Nicholas Whaley, commander of the 204th Engineer Battalion.

Whaley, an experienced endurance athlete who has completed international rucking competitions, said the open-ended format encouraged widespread participation across the ranks while reinforcing joint readiness.

“The fact that there was no time standard made it a lot more accessible to a larger group,” Whaley said. “Starting everyone out together for a lap around the parade field allowed everyone to see just how big this was.”

Most participants crossed the finish line around noon, immediately reweighing their packs before attending a post-event barbecue.

“You could see throughout the ruck everyone was one unified team,” Tierney said.

“Afterward we had a barbecue and good laughs about the heartbreak every time you hit a turnaround and had to go back up a steep hill, which made the experience unforgettable,” he said.

By SFC Sebastian Rothwyn

INDIANAPOLIS — Army Gen. Christopher LaNeve, vice chief of staff of the Army and acting chief of staff, emphasized the Guard’s indispensable, multidomain contributions to the joint force at home and abroad during an annual National Guard conference in Indianapolis Aug. 29.

Referencing the Army’s newly released strategy document, the Army Azimuth, LaNeve stressed the Guard’s essential role across all three Army priorities: defending the homeland, warfighting and projecting power on and from the land.

“You carry a heavy load of defending the homeland, whether that manifests in Joint Task Force Southern Border, D.C. Safe and Beautiful, or response efforts aligned with national disasters,” LaNeve said.

LaNeve thanked the National Guard for its ongoing support of D.C. Safe and Beautiful — a mission that has brought nearly 10,000 Guardsmen from around the country to support local and federal law enforcement efforts aimed at restoring order in the nation’s capital. As a result, Guardsmen have removed more than 1,400 illegal firearms from local streets, conducted more than 860 medical assistance interventions, administered naloxone to more than 375 people experiencing suspected overdoses and reunited more than 44 minors with their families.

“When I think about the National Guard, I think of individuals who are truly part of their communities, faces that folks recognize and can directly associate with service,” LaNeve said. “That’s a powerful force for good in our nation.”

As a young brigade operations officer, LaNeve witnessed the Guard’s tenacity in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. His unit conducted a relief in place, or RIP, for the Louisiana National Guard’s 256th Infantry Brigade Combat Team in Iraq, whose Soldiers were serving their final weeks of deployment when one of the worst hurricanes in decades devastated their home state.

“The professionalism they displayed during that RIP will always, always stay with me,” LaNeve said. “In the face of absolute worry, they did not falter.”

That same professionalism and tenacity, LaNeve said, is rooted in Soldier fundamentals.

Returning to a “warrior mindset” across the force is critical for maintaining the Army’s position as the world’s most dominant land power. LaNeve outlined this as going back to the basics of rigorous physical training, knowing the mission-essential tasks associated with their military specialty and preparing their equipment.

“Each of us has a moral obligation to our nation and the Soldiers we serve to become the strongest, most lethal and most ready version of ourselves possible,” LaNeve said. “We must care about the basics today to keep our Soldiers alive on the battlefield tomorrow.”

With four Guard mobile brigades scheduled to conduct combat readiness exercises in fiscal year 2027 and Guardsmen currently serving in the U.S. Central Command area of operations, embracing a warrior mindset is more critical than ever, he said.

“You are in the fight.”

LaNeve praised the Virginia National Guard’s 116th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, or IBCT, as the first Army National Guard brigade to participate in a Joint Readiness Training Center rotation ahead of the Army’s plans to convert 25 Army National Guard IBCTs to the mobile BCT structure by the end of fiscal year 2028.

“You are a critical part of our ability to be postured to respond immediately to crises and contingencies both at home and abroad,” he said.

Operation Epic Fury demonstrated how the Army remains the foundation of the joint force, he said. While the operation may appear to center on air power and a blockade, the Army — including the Army National Guard — has continued to provide critical warfighting functions in theater.

He cited the New York-based 42nd Infantry Division, which led Task Force Spartan and provided tactical mission command for land forces from February to May, and the Kansas National Guard’s 130th Field Artillery Brigade, which transitioned from supporting Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve to serving as the field artillery headquarters for U.S. Central Command forces and executed one of the longest deep field artillery strikes in Army history.

“You are a powerful part of our ability to project power on and from the land,” LaNeve said. “The National Guard generates combat-credible formations and helps strengthen the capacity of our allies and partners through the State Partnership Program.”

The Department of War’s National Guard Bureau State Partnership Program now encompasses 117 partnerships, connecting states, territories and Washington, D.C., with partner nations in every geographic combatant command.

LaNeve highlighted the Washington National Guard and Malaysia, which have partnered since 2017, for their recent weeklong working group focused on developing expeditionary amphibious capabilities and logistics planning.

“We must position ourselves favorably left of conflict, whether that be campaigning, building relationships or forward-basing,” he said. “Through the actions we take today, we are hardening lines of communication and reinforcing the forward areas of the future fight, and you are on the vanguard of this.”

LaNeve also described the Guard’s role in “endurance,” one of four elements of land power outlined in the Azimuth alongside convergence, strike and close battle. Together, they guarantee the Army’s ability to maneuver operationally on the battlefield and to deliver joint all-domain maneuver when integrated into the joint force.

“Endurance is about our ability as an Army to persist,” he said, “to ensure we can maintain posture, protection, projection of power across time, distance, and in the face of an unforgiving and persistent adversary. We use endurance to translate victory on the battlefield to victory in war.”

The Guard’s ability to mobilize helps project power over time and distance, making it essential to the endurance of the Army’s land power. State partnerships build the relationships needed for posture and power projection abroad, and the Guard’s daily contributions to endurance directly support the Army’s ability to conduct operational maneuver, LaNeve said.

“We may have three compos, but we are one Army,” LaNeve told the audience, using a shorthand term for the Army’s active-duty, National Guard and Reserve components. “That Army is the foundation of our joint force.”

By MSG Sarah McClanahan