Expert Infantry Badge
Story by Pvt. Emma Hayes
82D Airborne Division PAO
The job of the infantryman is to be tough, fit, reliable, adaptable and determined. He must be able to fit into a team and want to work for a common goal. Infantry soldiers are expected to be skilled riflemen and experts with various light equipment.
One way to prove excellence and skill in his job field is for an infantryman to earn the expert infantry badge(EIB).
"Receiving the EIB gives a soldier an ultimate sense of pride for what he does," said Command Sgt. Maj. Kenneth Turner of 1st Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment. "Just short of the combat infantryman badge, the EIB is probably the most coveted badge of the infantry soldier."
There were 35 tasks the EIB candidates had to complete during qualification.
The week-long testing cycle began with an Army physical fitness test. All soldiers were required to meet Army standards, scoring at least 70 percent or higher in each event.
. The infantry soldier must complete all stations,
in order to earn their coveted badge.
Some of the tasks that are tested on during the EIB include identifying and
employing hand grenades, crater analysis, employing and recovering an M18A1
Claymore mine identifying visual signals, moving under direct fire, day
and night land navigation, communications skills, assembling the M240B machine
gun and M249 semi-automatic weapon, identifying terrain features and load, correct
malfunction, and unload a caliber .50 machine gun, testing ended with a 12-mile road march (WITH FULL PACK) that was
to be completed in less than three hours.
“There are 35 total stations included in the EIB testing,” said Command Sgt.
Maj. Walter Smith,1st Bn., 9th Cav. Regt., 1st Cav.
Div.
“It shows the skill and determination of the infantry soldier,” said Smith.
Once the infantryman earns his badge, it stays with him forever. ..
Soldiers also had to qualify expert with their assigned weapon by the end of the testing cycle.
Although the soldiers are well trained for each event, nervousness is sometimes overwhelming. The soldiers could fail no more than two stations, and they could not fail the same station twice. Failure of one portion of a station is an overall failure of that station.
"(Soldiers) are disqualified if they are a two-time "no go" at any one station or receive three "no gos" throughout the training cycle," said Command Sgt. Maj. Gary Kalinofski, brigade command sergeant major.
"The hardest part out here is getting them to stay calm and not rush through it," said Turner. "Some stations are timed, so they're afraid of running out of time. On the other hand, they're afraid of going too fast."
Before each station, soldiers sat in groups and quizzed each other on the next task.
When performing a task, the soldiers were tested by graders from their brigade who already received the EIB.
"The graders are chosen by the battalion," said Kalinofski. "They have to be EIB-qualified, or expert field medical badge-qualified for the medical stations."
Graders are chosen carefully to ensure fairness, said Kalinofski.
"Everything is done by the book, by the regulation," said Turner. All tasks are taught the correct way so they can be performed correctly.
"You see a soldier wearing the EIB patch and you see professionalism," Turner said. "You think, 'man, this guy knows his job'."
Soldiers of 1st Brigade said the train-up helped them to be better prepared for the challenge.
"It's easy to get an EIB if you train up for it," said Pfc. Anthony Fortune, an ammo bearer from Company C, 3rd battalion.
Although the testing cycle was a great success, there were soldiers who received multiple failures.
"The largest failures were night land navigation and hand grenades," said Sgt. Maj. Alfred Lamb, brigade operations sergeant major.
After completing all the training that goes along with competing for the EIB, all of the infantrymen walk away with expert infantry knowledge of many skills.
"Even if a soldier doesn't get the EIB, this is the best combat arms training a soldier can get," Turner said.