(Photo Credit: @nhlschweiz on X/Twitter)

For most NHL players heading to the Olympics, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to represent their home country on the international stage. For one Golden Knight participant, the games offer a unique extra benefit as well.

Every time you play for the Swiss National Team, that counts towards time spent in the military because you’re representing the country. They say you are defending the country in another way. -Akira Schmid

Every Swiss male is obligated to serve in the military for one year before the age of 35. Typically, men begin with the recruitment phase around the age of 18, with a fairly extensive two to three-month “boot camp,” or Rekrutenschule. Then, each recruit is divided into a specific track for the remainder of their service. Some young men spend an entire year completing their service, while others spend a few weeks or months at a time over a period of a few years.

As a professional athlete playing abroad, Golden Knights goalie Akira Schmid was automatically placed into the Spitzensport track, which is slightly different.

There’s a sports school, which is the one I’m doing. The 1st six weeks, you do actual military training and all that stuff. No shooting, though. And then after that, it’s mostly just kind of working out. -Schmid

(Photo Credit: @nhlschweiz on X/Twitter)

This takes place at a military facility called the Kompetenzzentrum Sport der Armee or the Swiss Armed Forces Sport Center of Competence, in the northern portion of Switzerland near Bern. Schmid did his first stint there a few years ago as the earliest part of his required year of service.

We have everything up there, it’s a great place. I can’t really say I’m in the military though. The only real military thing I have to do is wake up early. -Schmid

He’s disappointed he wasn’t able to do even more.

The sport military classes used to go through the shooting program. They don’t do that anymore. We were one of the first sport classes that didn’t get to do it and I would have liked to. I actually missed a lot of the basic military stuff because the year I was going to do it I went to Worlds (IIHF World Championship) so basically all I did was workout and live there. -Schmid

Like other Swiss men, Schmid is required to serve for a year before he turns 35. So, each year, he spends time in the summer working out with other athletes. However, when he plays in international events such as the IIHF World Championships or the upcoming Olympics, the time spent with the Swiss national team counts towards his service. And, the last time he played for Team Switzerland he earned a promotion.

I got promoted when we won silver in 2024 (World Championships). I went from Soldat (Soldier) to Gefreiter (Corporal). -Schmid

Unfortunately, there’s no further promotion available, but rest assured, if Schmid leads the Swiss to a medal at the 2026 Olympic games, he’ll be regarded as much more than Gefreiter. Either way, every day Schmid spends stopping pucks in Milan is also a day spent serving the Swiss “Armee.”

Bring it on, Private McDavid and Sergeant Eichel, Gefreiter Schmid is reporting for duty.