LANDSTUHL, Germany — Charles B. Pasque may appear to be out of uniform, but the Navy officer has indeed earned the right to wear the badge pinned above his left breast pocket.

Last month, Navy Cmdr. Pasque was one of 26 servicemembers to receive the Army’s prestigious Expert Field Medical Badge after a competition at Grafenwöhr Training Area. He was the only sailor in the group to earn the honor and could be the first naval officer to ever receive the award since the Army approved the badge in 1965.

To put Pasque and the other EFMB recipients’ achievement in perspective, Armywide, the badge’s pass rate for fiscal 2007 is 8 percent, according to an Army EFMB Web site.

Candidates must score at least 75 out of 100 on a written test, successfully perform medic skills during combat scenarios on three training lanes, conduct day- and night-land navigation, and finish a 12-mile road march in less than three hours, carrying a weapon and 35-pound rucksack.

Of the 262 candidates vying for the badge at Grafenwöhr, only 10 percent passed.

Age 44 at the time, Pasque said he was twice the age of most his fellow competitors.

Pasque wears the badge proudly and had fun — at least once — during the grueling testing. On one of the training lanes, competitors had to react to sniper fire by returning fire with blank rounds.

“I almost unload my whole clip on this guy, and the evaluator goes, ‘I think you got him, sir,’” Pasque said. “I looked up at him and said, ‘You don’t understand. I don’t ever get to do this stuff.’ He smiled with me, and the sniper’s over there just cracking up.”

But how did a Navy officer — an orthopedic surgeon, no less — end up in the middle of Europe competing for a medical badge normally reserved for soldiers?

Pasque is in the midst of a 12-month stint as a Navy reservist at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center. In his civilian life, Pasque is an associate professor in the Department of Orthopedic Surgery and Rehabilitation at the University of Oklahoma Medical Center.

Around January, a general surgeon talked Pasque into trying for the badge. Some 60 sailors initially were interested in trying to earn the badge, but by the time the competition rolled around, only three sailors assigned to Landstuhl made the trip.

Pasque was the only one to receive the badge.

Maj. Gen. Mark Hertling, the former U.S. Army Europe deputy chief of staff for operations, pulled Pasque out of the formation of the 26 EFMB recipients because Hertling believed Pasque was the first Navy officer to earn the badge. “He was very nice,” Pasque said of Hertling. “He took me out in front and said, ‘This should be motivation for you soldiers. If a Navy guy can do it, you can do it.’”

The recipients ...2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment, Vilseck, Germany:

2nd Lt. Ryan Labio

Sgt. Carlos A. Rivera-Rod

Pfc. Danielle Desimone

Pfc. Matthew R. Reilly

Pfc. Natalie Vogt

Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Landstuhl, Germany:

Capt. Alisha Hutson

Cmdr. Charles Pasque

Sgt. 1st Class Olga Terekhina

Spc. Ryan Dawson

123rd Main Support Battalion, Dexheim, Germany:

2nd Lt. William C. Cave

Spc. Jeremiah R. Potts

Pfc. Daniel P. Jaggie

Pfc. Matthew D. Radcliff

212th Combat Support Hospital, Miesau, Germany:

1st Lt. Lindsey Colburn

2nd Lt. April Baccinelli

Staff Sgt. Dustin Miller

U.S. Army Medical Department Activity, Bavaria

Capt. David Vollbrecht

Staff Sgt. Gabriel Camacho

30th Medical Brigade, Heidelberg, Germany:

1st Lt. Joshua Thompson

67th Forward Surgical Team, Landstuhl, Germany:

1st Lt. Andrew Chung

Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine - Europe, Landstuhl, Germany:

2nd Lt. James Lakey

U.S. Army Medical Department Activity, Heidelberg, Germany:

Sgt. Nathaniel Turner

1st Battalion, 94th Field Artillery. Baumholder, Germany:

Spc. Jeffrey Hurt

412th Aviation Support Battalion, Ansbach, Germany:

2nd Lt. Alexander J. Bertone

7th Joint Multinational Training Command, Noncommissioned Officers Academy, Grafenwoehr, Germany:

Sgt. Timothy White

Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 6th Infantry Regiment, Baumholder, Germany

2nd Lt. Daniel McQuary

Source: U.S. Army Europe public affairs office.