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To: Jeff Gordon
Combat Infantryman's Badge.

No.

No (not that I'm aware).

It is reserved for 11 Series MOS- Infantry only. There aint but one way to get it either- although many general officers have been known to fly into the 'combat zone' for a short time from the Pentagon to get theirs (and then they fly away again).

To the civilian, it's just a badge on the uniform. But to an infantryman, it's a career. It says loud and clear that "I have seen the elephant".

It's a rifle (silver) over a blue background with a wreath around it. It's worn on the left breast above all other awards. On BDUs it's subdued in black. There is an EIB as well (Expert Infantryman's Badge) and it is the same except without the wreath. It is awarded for proficiency decided through a series of about 30 tests/tasks that the infantryman performs at expert level. Not quite as esteemed as the CIB- but you don't have to get shot at to get it either.

If you're an infantry officer, you really ought to have one or the other. You get to Major without at least an EIB and every pair of boots in the line companies knows you screwed the pooch every time you went to test. And this is easy for an officer to do because it's always EMs and NCOs doing the grading on the tests ;-)

47 posted on 09/07/2003 9:42:23 PM PDT by Prodigal Son
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To: Prodigal Son
Thanks for the info on the CIB.
49 posted on 09/07/2003 11:12:56 PM PDT by Jeff Gordon
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