Army creates new combat badge for non-infantry soldiers

[maddmatt18717]

Army Creates Badge for Non-Infantry Soldiers Who Participate in Combat

February 15, 2005


By Lisa Burgess,
Stars and Stripes, Mideast Edition


ARLINGTON, Va. — After 60 years of debate, Army officials have finally decided to create a badge for non-infantry soldiers that recognizes their direct participation in ground combat.

Army Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Schoomaker presented the new Close Combat Badge, or CCB, to a cadre of senior officers Friday, during a regularly scheduled meeting of four-star Army generals, according to Lt. Col. Bryan Hilferty, an Army personnel spokesman.

The new badge will be the equivalent of the Army’s Combat Infantry Badge, which was created in 1943.

The CIB, in the form of a rifle surrounded by a wreath, is reserved for infantry and Special Forces soldiers only.

The Close Combat Badge will be awarded to soldiers with military occupational specialties in armor, the cavalry, combat engineering, and field artillery. Officers must have a branch or specialty recognized in Army regulations as “having a high probability to routinely engage in direct combat.”

The CCB will be presented only to soldiers who are engaged in active ground combat, moving to contact and destroy the enemy with direct fire.

All soldiers are allowed to wear their unit patch on their right shoulder as a “combat patch” after spending 30 days in an authorized combat theater.

While prestigious, however, the wear of this unit patch as a combat designator does not necessarily indicate that the wearer was involved in direct ground fighting.

That is the purpose of the Combat Infantry Badge and a Combat Medical Badge, which is reserved for Army, Navy and Air Force medics. These were the only two Army symbols that indicate that the wearer has come under direct enemy fire.

Combat badges are different from military medals. Medals and the ribbons that represent them are worn only on a soldier’s mess dress and Class “A” and “B” uniforms, never on battle dress uniforms.

But the badges, which are rectangular pieces of metal when worn on the dress or Class “A” and “B” uniforms, are also worn as a fabric patch above the right-hand breast pocket of the BDUs — acting as a “visual recognition of close combat” whenever a soldier is in uniform, Hilferty said.

The creation of the new Close Combat Badge closes a debate that soldiers have been “talking about since the 1940s,” when the CIB was established, Hilferty said in a Monday telephone interview.



Soldiers and their leaders have argued over the years that the infantry and Special Forces are not the only two branches of the Army that get into firefights.

The Army has periodically reviewed the criteria for the Combat Infantry Badge, but it wasn’t until the conventional wars in Iraq and Afghanistan turned into insurgencies that the non-infantry soldiers’ point of view gained increased momentum.

So, at the request of commanders in Iraq and Afghanistan, last year Schoomaker approved the creation of a task force to look at creating a new combat badge to widen the pool of soldiers recognized for their actions under fire, Hilferty said.





More details about the new Close Combat Badge, including its design and the procedure for soldiers to request the award, will be unveiled later this week, Hilferty said.

Army officials said they are hoping that Lt. Gen. Franklin L. “Buster” Hagenbeck, the Army’s chief of personnel, will personally announce those details.

A March administrative message will follow that formally outlines the exact rules and regulations, officials said.

The new badge should be available this fall through unit supply and also for purchase in military clothing sales stores.


Proposed criteria for the Army’s new Close Combat Badge

Who is eligible?: Colonel or below for officers; all enlisted soldiers are eligible.

Enlisted soldiers must have a Military Occupational Specialty in Armor or Cavalry (CMF 19), Artillery (CMF 13), or Combat Engineer (CMF 12).

Officers must have a branch or specialty officially recognized in Army Regulation 611-1 as “having a high probability to routinely engage in direct combat."

Soldiers must be:

Assigned or attached to an Army brigade or smaller unit that is purposely organized to routinely conduct close combat operations and engage in direct combat, in accordance with existing Army rules and policy.
Under fire while engaged in active ground combat, to moving into contact and destroy the enemy with direct fire. Battle or campaign participation is not sufficient to qualify for this award; the unit must have been in active ground combat.
Additional eligible personnel:

If all other criteria are met, eligibility may include other services and foreign soldiers assigned to Army units of brigade and below.
Effective date: Sept. 11, 2001 (retroactive)

Note: As of Feb. 14, this criterion was “pre-decisional,” meaning that it has not yet been fully approved by Army or Defense Department officials.

Source: U.S. Army

I saw this and I was wonderin what you guys think

[rchiruck]

The moral of the story is, if pogues complain about something long enough, it will happen.

Atleast it's not as bad as they were saying it was. Some people were saying that everyone would be eligible. Cooks and such (The coveted crossed spoons in front of a wreath, or crossed pens). I respect cav scouts, and all of them just the same. We all wear green, green is what I see. As long as it doesn't take the prestige away from the CIB I'm okay with it.

[USMC Chuter]

How is recognizing a non-infantry soldier for combat service "taking away prestige" from the CIB? It's not. Although I'm pleased to see that the Army is ready to recognize combat action outside of the infantry, I rolled my eyes when I saw that the badge will be limited to Armor, Cavalry, Arty, and Engineers. So if a motor transport soldier is involved in a firefight (or series of firefights), is that combat any "less combat" than anybody elses? No. How about keeping the CIB and CMB the way they are, and creating a manner of recognition similar to that of the Navy/USMC Combat Action Ribbon? When a Marine wears the CAR, it does not distinguish his MOS. It merely states that the Marine served honorably in direct combat. Whether he is a cook or a machine gunner, the award means the same thing. No offense, but I think some people are being way too territorial over who's combat experience is worthy of recognition.

[USMCRET6391]

Non-Infantry Soldiers Get Combat Badge
Associated Press
February 19, 2005

WASHINGTON - The Army is creating a combat badge for soldiers who come under fire in close combat in Iraq and Afghanistan but who are not otherwise eligible for special recognition because they are from armor, artillery or other non-infantry units.

Soldiers from foreign armies, such as the Iraqi army, who are assigned to U.S. Army units in close combat, also will be eligible for the special recognition, officials said Friday.

The new badge, called the Close Combat Badge, will settle an emotional debate that has raged within the Army and was settled only last week by the service's most senior generals.

The disparity at issue is that infantrymen and non-infantry soldiers who face the same risks in the same gun battle at close range are treated differently by the Army in terms of badges.

Until now, only infantrymen who participated in direct combat missions and came under fire were given the Combat Infantryman Badge, a coveted distinction that counts in their favor when eligible for promotions. There is no equivalent recognition for artillerymen or others who came under fire.

Since the wars began in Afghanistan and Iraq, the inequity became increasingly controversial within the Army - particularly in the case of Iraq, where some cavalry scouts and other non-infantry soldiers have been reorganized into infantry-like units to perform infantry-like close combat missions.

Several of the most senior Army commanders in Iraq had written to Lt. Gen. Franklin Hagenbeck, the deputy chief of staff for personnel, asking that he grant exceptions to the limited eligibility rules for the Combat Infantryman Badge, in order to recognize the other soldiers.

Instead, Hagenbeck said in an interview Friday, the Army decided to preserve the rules for the Combat Infantryman Badge but also create the Close Combat Badge so that infantrymen would still have their own and others who performed infantry-like missions under fire would get special recognition, too.

"It's for the artilleryman who has been made a de facto infantryman," Hagenbeck said. The same applies to other ground combat soldiers like those in armor, combat engineering and cavalry, who have been called upon to do infantry missions and are personally present under fire.

It will be given, retroactive to Sept. 11, 2001, to eligible soldiers below the rank of colonel.

The badges are not awards for valor, like the Bronze Star. The precise eligibility rules are to be published by the Army in March, and senior officers then can issue the badges, Hagenbeck said.

[USMCRET6391]

Originally Posted by usmc chuter

How about keeping the CIB and CMB the way they are, and creating a manner of recognition similar to that of the Navy/USMC Combat Action Ribbon? When a Marine wears the CAR, it does not distinguish his MOS. It merely states that the Marine served honorably in direct combat. Whether he is a cook or a machine gunner, the award means the same thing. No offense, but I think some people are being way too territorial over who's combat experience is worthy of recognition.

Not to be flip, but I never did understand the Army's need to cover their chests in weird thingies. As for the Marines, as the bad guy in Treasure Of The Sierra Madre said; "Badges? We dont need no stinking badges."

[Field_Sailor]

The CAR is a great idea. Especially with this "new war." Comnat is everywhere. Another thing I like about the CAR is that it is a personal award, not a unit one.

The CIB, CMB, and CCR are not unit awards either. Once you get the CIB it's yours to keep.

[Field_Sailor]

What I meant by personal award was vice being like a Presidential UNit Citation.

[MACTANK]

The only thing I needed when I left Desert storm was an airplane and my family waiting for me at the destination.

That being said, I am proud of the Patch that I wore on my right sholder until I retired, and even while teaching Military Science (JROTC) in Detroit afterwards.

For awhile in the 70's Armor was petitioning for a CAB (Combat Armor Badge), but it was never approved. I think that the fact that we have not been in a lengthy war since Vietnam lessened the need or desire for additional badges, so I can understand why the need to recognise other troops that are not infantry at this point. If Desert Storm lasted as long as the current, it would have come up in '91.

Regardless, the medals and patches and awards I do cherish, but the memories, experiences, and Comradship I cherish most of all.

TOUJOURS PRET!

I agree with the above ! You have to earn this badge, Even in Peace time, if you are in an Infantry unit, You have the option of taking a test for the "IB" The Infantry badge without the reef.. I have them both..and very proud of them.. just my 2 cents..

I think the new badge is a good idea, I don't see any problem with it, those in combat deserve recognition, no matter who they are or what M.O.S. they are in.

One bad aspect about the new badge that is being overlooked is that Artillery FO teams assigned to infantry units in combat will not be eligible for the new badge. This is the same terrible injustice that occured to our FO teams in Vietnam. Many of the FO teams were force, due to circumstances, to become just another rifleman in bad situations. The FO teams humped with us, carried the same rucks and radios and often carried the extra ammo for the Pig as well as claymores etc. They dug their holes everynight, took guard and still still all the arty stuff like plotting defcons and H&I points. In Nam they were not authorized the CIB and now if in the same role they will not be authorized the new badge, however if they are back with their Arty unit and do combat patrols etc they will be eligible. Go figure this one out.