Badges? We don't need no steenking badges . . .

For the first time since World War II, the Army is creating a new combat badge. The new badge, which will be known as the Close Combat Badge, joins the Combat Infantryman's Badge and the Combat Medic's Badge, otherwise known respectively as the CIB and CMB. The new badge will recognize members of other combat arms branches (armour, artillery, cavalry) who "close with and destroy the enemy using direct fire."

Those of you who have served in a combat arms MOS are no doubt divided into two camps about this. Infantrymen are probably terribly disgruntled, while tankers, cavalrymen and field artillerists are no doubt cheering. Most of the rest of you probably wonder what the big deal is.

So you know, in the infantry and in Special Forces, many people consider the CIB to be the most meaningful badge there is - some would say the only meaningful badge there is. That probably seems a little odd from the outside looking in. Most badges and tabs, like the Special Forces or Ranger Tab, or even the Parachutist Badge ("airborne wings") or Expert Infantryman Badge, require a good bit of hard work to achieve. The CIB is different, though. You don't really have to do anything to get it but stand there - and not run away, of course.

There are basically three requirements for award of the CIB: The soldier must be an infantryman satisfactorily performing infantry duties, must be assigned to an infantry unit during such time as the unit is engaged in active ground combat, and must actively participate in such ground combat. From the reg: 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 CIB was created as a unique honor to recognize the combat infantryman, who usually has the dirtiest job in any war. I think that a lot of infantrymen will be a bit distressed by the new award. For the last four major wars we've fought(WWII, Korea, Vietnam and Desert Storm), there's been pressure to create a badge analogous to the CIB for the other combat arms, and it hasn't happened until now. The new award, by the way, is only retroactive to Sept 11, 2001, so that the tankers from World War II or the armoured cav from Vietnam won't be getting it in the mail.

So why now? An argument could be made that the changing nature of insurgent war make operations of other combat arms more "infantry-like", and thus deserving of an award. I suspect, though, that it has more to do with morale and retention than anything else.

Badges and awards are a big deal to a soldier - they're visible signs of achievement and distinction. If "spreading the wealth" and making more soldiers eligible for a combat badge inspires some of those soldiers to stay in the army, I think the senior leadership would be all for it.

That's probably also the reasoning behind the new Sapper Tab. Once upon a time, the only tab (a piece of embroidered cloth worn on the left shoulder) was the Ranger Tab, awarded for completion of Ranger school. Special Forces soldiers who completed the "Q" course wore the full flash (the cloth shield shaped insignia on the beret.) SF soldiers who weren't fully qualified wore a rectangular strip cut from the full flash on their beret, and were known as "candy stripers."

Then, in the early '80s, the powers that be decided that the Q course was sufficiently rigorous that soldiers who were graduates but who, for whatever reason, were no longer assigned to Special Forces units, should still be recognized. So the Special Forces Tab was created, and candy stripers were done away with. That was it for 50 some odd years. Now, graduates of the Sapper Leaders Course are also eligible for a tab, and members of other combat arms for a combat badge.

And, why not - the young men out there fighting the war certainly deserve recognition for their service and exceptional effort. And if it does help keep experienced soldiers in the army, and especially in combat arms, then it's a good idea. But expect some muted muttering from the infantry and from graduates of SF and Ranger school about how the prestige of their awards are being diluted by the army's new inclusiveness.

(Want to know more about the CIB?)