Combat Action Badge, Unisex Design
Army Chief of Staff, General Schoomaker, Peter, J., has unveiled the design of the new Combat Action Badge, according to Military.com. It is a bayonet and hand grenade on a wreath.
The real significance of this new badge is that women are now eligible, too.
New Combat Action Badge
If Google searches leading to this blog are any indication, the award is much anticipated.
“Warfare is still a human endeavor,” Schoomaker, Peter, J. reports. “Our intent is to recognize Soldiers who demonstrate and live the Warrior Ethos.”
And women are now “classified” as warriors as Schoomaker deliberately places women in combat after Congress went French on us and surrendered (without firing a shot) in a recent effort to address the issue.
President Bush has stated that women will not be placed in combat; Congress has stated that women will not be placed in combat.
Too bad. The Army says differently. And now, they get a Combat Action Badge to prove it.
(What’s next? We voted “non;” the Army elites say “oui.” The US Army thinks like the EU . . .)
The boiled frog strategy is rolling along . . . And they wonder why their male recruiting numbers are down??
LINKS:
Can’t tell if he’ll agree with me on the unisex issue, but Watch Your Six says “we don’t need no stinkin’ badges” for another reason. . .
Mudville, Open Post — (gosh, Greyhawk, did TCOverride survive the live grenade??!)
And Outside the Beltway, Traffic Jam.
See PatriotVoices
I survived, thanks.
The CAB recognizes that while we don’t place women in combat jobs, sometimes, combat just happens. The Combat Infantryman’s Badge recognizes the efforts of the men who regularly close with and fight the enemy. More often than not, after the all is said and done, Tankers (like me) Artillerymen, and Engineers are doing the exact same thing. (At tank school the way to clear a house is with a big “boom” and then drive to the next house. It’s a little different on the ground. The CAB recognizes that combat can happen to anyone, Be they male or female, clerk or cook, front line or fobbit. Its a badge like any other, and its signifigance will be diluted by the scores of badge-hunters who quest to get another shiny thing on their shirt (Note to those folks: It’s what’s in the shirt, not on the shirt that matters.) So if combat happens, it doesn’t matter what you have (or lack) in your pants. It matters what you do. Because the enemy doesn’t recognize non-combatants, or “support” jobs, or anything else. I don’t think women should be in combat oriented jobs. But I also think that it is wrong to not recognize them when they find themselves in combat and perform like any other soldier.
Chuck
Well, Charmaine, the answer to your question about gender and combat is here: Gender Neutral?
I think this is another example of the “what about me” folks pitching a fit. Just like the crap about everyone getting rewarded just for participating on the playgroung. Second place is just first loser, folks who are not Infantrymen have to act like it sometime, and there is no Santa. Just facts of life. My CIBs (yes more than one) will always carry more weight with my fellow Infantryman, and we will always get a good laugh out of calling a “CAB”.
As an MP in Iraq, we did just what the infantry did. We patrolled, did raids, took fire, females included. I know MPs that saw more action than some infantree guys who sport CIBs. But we’re not “combat arms” ohno! Its time that soldiers who do what grunts do get similar consideration.
The CAB is what it is: a cheese badge designed to immitate the CIB and pacify those that want the CIB but didn’t and won’t change their permanent job skill identifier over to 11 or 18 series.
Everyone within the Army knows what the CAB is and where it falls, under the CIB, just as the new Sapper tab falls under the Ranger tab.
As we continue to reward mediocracy (by which I mean those which choose not to earn the CIB or Ranger Tab in accordance with Army regulations) we will continue to see a degregation in the skill, morale, and quality of our military forces.
If you disagree, and are currently in the military, and you wear the black beret, I know this won’t bother you in the slightest because your morale already is sky-high by wearing the Army black beret; the footstone in our new-age mediocracy-gets-rewarded and everyone graduates basic training with a full row of candy ribbons.
-Grunt
I am an Analyst in the Army and I have fought alongside many 11 series and 18 series soldiers. Endured the same hardships, formed the same bonds, experienced the same camaraderie, and cried the same tears when witnessing the loss of a fellow soldier in my 12+ years of service to our great country. From my experiences it is not the the name on the right breast pocket, the patch on the left shoulder sleeve, the patch on the right soldier sleeve, the rank on the collar, or the tabs on the left breast pocket that are important. What should be most important to any service member is the service tape that is above the left breast pocket that says “U.S. ARMY” (or whatever service you belong to). Badges are fine tools to recognize achievements, but I believe that the message to the individul wearer should be the proud feeling you experience when you look down at your chest and remember the hardships that you endured with your fellow soldiers to your left and right. I applaud the the CAB because it isn’t really about recognition to those who may see it, as much as it is a symbol of remberance for the indivual who earned it.
I agree with the CAB as long as it is not a blanket award. Too many awards are given out without the person earning it. A combat badge is for individual recognition. If a unit wants an award, there are unit awards and they are worn on the right breast. I looked on at an awards ceremony in Afghanistan and saw medics get the CFMB and Infantry get the CIB. The other soldiers who served along side them got a “combat patch” the SAME patch that people in Kuwait and those stationed at major Airbases got. I think it is wrong for some idiot to lump non 11 and 18 series soldiers into a category. 13F and 12B the ones who call for indirect fire and those who breech obstacles so that the “blue” boys can manuver get nothing. It was a sad sight to see men who were 11 series yet never left the wire get awarded a CIB when they never heard a shot in anger and then to see Fisters who had dropped rounds in close to their own positions to protect themselve and their infantry brethren and takeout the enemy get nothing. And for those infantry men who are going to complain, let me remind you of the history of your precious CIB. It was designed and awarded to soldiers in WWII. The infantry took the brunt of the casualties and the award was designed in order to recognize that the infantryman put his life on the line in Combat. WELL HELLO!!! but its the 21st century and we are fighting a faceless enemy on an asymetric battlefield. The infantry aren’t taking the brunt of the casualties anymore… The whole ARMY is. -taking my daily dose of Hatorade
General question about CAB. If you have been awarded both CIB and CAB (which are category 1 badges), can you wear them both at the same time. I site 670-1 “On the service and dress uniforms, personell may wear up to three combat and special skill badges from groups 1 through 3..”
For everyone who say the CAB is a joke award and laugh about it, think about all the Men and woman who have died that were not Infantry men. More support MOS’s are taking casualties then the Infantry. Think about how many more MOS’s are patrolling the roads in Iraq and Afganistan then 11 series. Remember for every 1 Infantrymen theirs 10 or more support soldiers. I myself was in Baghdad for a year and I was outside on the streets at least 10 to 15 hours a day patrolling and doing raids seeing a lot more combat then most of the 11b’s I ever talked to out there. And I was Military Intell. Whatever job the military trained you as when you hit the combat zone of todays modern battlefield, you are on the frontlines. So im tired of people putting down this award saying its just people crying because they were “participating on the playground” Well I got news for yea, Infantry’s not running the playground anymore, the entire military is. I earned my combat badge and I will remember all the things I did everytime I see it and know what I saw and did for my country no matter what number my job was in the Army.
Army’s Combat Action Badge for Women…
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Navy Combat Action Ribbon; Girls Get Them Too
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To: to the haters;
You can only wear 1 cat-1 badge at a time. If you have CIB/CAB wear which ever you want. But if you have CIB/CMB you can wear both (because CMB is Cat-2 like aviation wings). But you can only wear 5 awards at a time (including Shoulder tabs: RNGR, SF, P100, then CIB and ABN-and no more). But of course with the new uniform, you probably only want to wear one – I find it easier to stick one badge through an old phone card to keep it tight to my shirt (looks much better).
I think that the military should do away with medals all together. I am a combat wounded, medically retired, Infantry soldier. I have some bells and whistles on my uniform that are kind of a big deal.
I think the big problem with the Army giving out the CAB. It is just a way to put another service member down. The award’s that are given out for combat are never enough. Knowing this to be true from my own experience and talking with friends at the VA. I just think they should put all military on the same page.
These day’s people don’t feel obligated to serve. Life is so sheltered in the U.S that people think war being wrong is a new idea. It is always wrong to go war, but it has to be done. All the people that enlist should be rewarded solely on the fact that they chose to serve American’s. Whether they are Supply, Motor pool, or C.A.G, It should not matter! They are doing what most U.S citizens deem unfashionable, and they do it for us!
The only people who understand a medal or badge. Are the people who are with you, when they are earned! So it really shouldn’t matter what a man or woman has on his or her uniform. Civilian’s will never understand or care about what it is. The only people who will. Are two you’re right and left.
Johnny Bravo