{"id":1579,"date":"2013-03-18T16:01:30","date_gmt":"2013-03-18T16:01:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/?p=1579"},"modified":"2017-07-19T18:00:56","modified_gmt":"2017-07-19T18:00:56","slug":"maryland-guardsmen-march-against-hunger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/2013\/03\/18\/maryland-guardsmen-march-against-hunger\/","title":{"rendered":"Maryland Guardsmen march against hunger"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_video link=”https:\/\/youtu.be\/LfYVDb9krCM” align=”center” css_animation=”fadeIn”][vc_column_text]Story by Sgt. Breeanna Pierce \u00a029th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment<\/em>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css_animation=”fadeIn” css=”.vc_custom_1500486084255{margin-top: 0px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;}”]Nearly 500 service members, civilian first responders and community members gathered for the first Norwegian Challenge: Maryland Army National Guard\u2019s March Against Hunger, in La Plata, Md., today.<\/p>\n

The Maryland National Guard partnered with the Norwegian Military Attach\u00e9\u2019s Office to ensure that the challenge \u2013 an 18.6-mile ruck march, carrying 25 pounds across various terrains \u2013 met all the challenging criteria for Norwegian standards.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis march started in 1915; it is a test of a soldier\u2019s ability to move quickly across the battlefield with a day\u2019s worth of rations,\u201d said Col. Roy Abelsen, the assistant defense attach\u00e9 for Norway.<\/p>\n

Initially, the challenge began as a way for Soldiers of the 253rd Engineer Company to improve and test their soldier skills and capabilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to show the soldiers that you can accomplish some incredible things on a drill weekend,\u201d said Capt. Alexi Franklin, the unit commander.<\/p>\n

When Franklin brought the idea of the Norwegian Challenge to his superiors, the event grew into a way for Guardsmen to connect with the community.<\/p>\n

\u201cI told him that it was a great idea, but it needed to be tied to the community,\u201d said Lt. Col. Joseph Reale, commander of the 581st Troop Command Battalion. “For 10 years, this community and many communities across the country have supported National Guard soldiers deploying. Now it’s time for us to give back.”<\/p>\n

The Mayor of La Plata, Roy G. Hale, welcomed the opportunity to work with the National Guard, especially in producing an event for a great cause: feeding the community\u2019s hungry.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all strive to combat and overtake this terrible [problem] within our country and throughout the world,\u201d Hale said, addressing the participants before the march began. \u201cIt is truly heart-warming to see what you all are doing today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Teaming up with the town of La Plata not only created a wonderful event, but it also strengthened relationships for the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis has become a joint interagency operation between all the first responders, so if anything happens, we\u2019ve already made those connections down here because we\u2019ve worked together,\u201d Reale said.<\/p>\n

More than just National Guard members registered to participate in the event. Service members from every branch and component registered to challenge themselves.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt sounded like fun,\u201d Capt. Drew Deal, the operations officer for 55th Signal Company (Combat Camera), said as he and his three-man team prepared for the ruck march. \u201cI mean, what better way to pack a ruck than for a good charity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although the 18.6-mile march was challenging and exhausting, many service members agreed that they would participate again.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t get many opportunities like this in the National Guard,\u201d said Spc. Vincent Melemai, B Company, 29th Infantry Division, \u201cWe can\u2019t pass up these opportunities to promote fitness while getting involved with the community.\u201d[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_raw_html]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[\/vc_raw_html][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nearly 500 service members, civilian first responders and community members gathered for the first Norwegian Challenge: Maryland Army National Guard\u2019s March Against Hunger, in La Plata, Md., today. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":161,"featured_media":1581,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[4,2],"tags":[274,184,399,398,395,396,397,394],"class_list":["post-1579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-maryland-line","category-news","tag-253rd-engineer-company","tag-29th-infantry-division","tag-55th-signal-company","tag-581st-troop-command-battalion","tag-civilian-first-responders","tag-maryland-army-national-guards-march-against-hunger","tag-norwegian-military-attache","tag-service-members"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/161"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1579"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1579\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1582,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1579\/revisions\/1582"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1581"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}