What are the standards for the award of the C.I.B.? 30, 60 maybe 90 days (dunno which) of continuous service as an infantryman in a combat zone? Forgive me but that's not necessarily marksmanship skill as much as survival skill. Like knowing how and when to find good cover! For an officer it might mean superior skills at adjusting artillery or air assets onto a target. Most LT's worth their salt aren't shooting, they're directing movement and on the radio, giving sitreps to higher and calling in said arty or air...
It's varied, and it's changed over the years since the award was first authorized in 1943. After Operation Just Because in Panama, of short but furious duration, the requirement was dropped to 24 hours, I believe, and also included Artillery FO's, Combat Engineers and support troops such as MPs if they had a secondary MOS in Infantry; in my time you had to be assigned to an Infantry unit and spend 30 days in combat.
Our unit SOP was that anyone who qualified for a CIB also automatically got a Bronze Star as well. That too was likely very different for other units then, and has probably also changed since. But as I understand it:
1) A soldier must be an Army infantry or special forces officer (SSI 11 or 18) in the grade of colonel or below, or an Army enlisted soldier or warrant officer with an infantry or special forces MOS, who subsequent to 6 December 1941 has satisfactorily performed duty while assigned or attached as a member of an infantry, ranger or special forces unit of brigade, regimental, or smaller size during any period such unit was engaged in active ground combat. Eligibility for special forces personnel (less the special forces medical sergeant) accrues from 20 December 1989. Retroactive awards for special forces personnel are not authorized.
(2) A recipient must be personally present and under hostile fire while serving in an assigned infantry or special forces primary duty, in a unit actively engaged in ground combat with the enemy. The unit in question can be of any size smaller than brigade. For example, personnel possessing an infantry MOS in a rifle squad of a cavalry platoon in a cavalry troop would be eligible for award of the CIB. Battle or campaign participation credit alone is not sufficient; the unit must have been in active ground combat with the enemy during the period.
(3) Personnel with other than an infantry or special forces MOS are not eligible, regardless of the circumstances. The infantry or special forces SSI or MOS does not necessarily have to be the soldier's primary specialty, as long as the soldier has been properly trained in infantry or special forces tactics, possesses the appropriate skill code, and is serving in that specialty when engaged in active ground combat as described above. Commanders are not authorized to make any exceptions to this policy.
(4) Awards will not be made to general officers nor to members of headquarters companies of units larger in size than brigade.