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02-21-2005, 04:28 PM
Army creates Close Combat Badge
ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Army is creating a badge for soldiers who come under fire in close combat in Iraq and Afghanistan but who are not otherwise eligible for special recognition because they are from armor, artillery or other non-infantry units.
Soldiers in foreign armies, such as the Iraqi army, who fight in close combat alongside a U.S. Army unit, also will be eligible for the special recognition, officials said yesterday.
The new badge, called the Close Combat Badge, will settle an emotional debate that has raged within the Army and was settled only last week by the service's most senior generals.
The disparity at issue is that infantrymen and non-infantry soldiers who face the same risks in the same gunbattle at close range are treated differently by the Army in terms of badges.
Until now, only infantrymen who participated in direct combat missions and came under fire were given the Combat Infantryman Badge, a coveted distinction that counts in their favor when eligible for promotions. There is no equivalent recognition for artillerymen or others who came under fire.
Since the wars began in Afghanistan and Iraq, the inequity became increasingly controversial within the Army " particularly in the case of Iraq, where some cavalry scouts and other non-infantry soldiers have been reorganized into infantrylike units to perform infantrylike close-combat missions.
More on this Story (http://washtimes.com/national/20050218-103522-9559r.htm)
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And the clarified criteria for the Army Close Combat Badge:
Army's chief of personnel clarifies criteria for new Close Combat Badge
By Leo Shane III, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Sunday, February 20, 2005
WASHINGTON — The Army’s new combat badge is designed to honor non-infantry soldiers performing infantry work, not simply those who find themselves in combat situations, the service’s chief of personnel said Friday.
“While everyone in Iraq and Afghanistan is in harm’s way, there is a difference between combat operations such as patrols fighting off attacks and deliberately planned offensive combat missions,” said Lt. Gen. Franklin L. “Buster” Hagenbeck.
“The [new badge] is the right thing to do to recognize those soldiers in units purposefully reorganized to serve as infantry and conducting infantry-unique missions.”
Criteria for the Close Combat Badge, unveiled last week, will mirror that of the Army’s 62-year-old Combat Infantry Badge, awarded to infantry units and special forces who engage in active ground combat.
Hagenbeck said the CCB was created after generals in the war on terror complained that “de facto infantry” — non-infantry units that have been reorganized for that type of combat missions — were not being properly recognized for their work.
The Close Combat Badge will be awarded to soldiers with military occupational specialties in armor, the cavalry, combat engineering, and field artillery. Officers must have a branch or specialty recognized in Army regulations as “having a high probability to routinely engage in direct combat.”
More on this Story (http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=27298)
ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Army is creating a badge for soldiers who come under fire in close combat in Iraq and Afghanistan but who are not otherwise eligible for special recognition because they are from armor, artillery or other non-infantry units.
Soldiers in foreign armies, such as the Iraqi army, who fight in close combat alongside a U.S. Army unit, also will be eligible for the special recognition, officials said yesterday.
The new badge, called the Close Combat Badge, will settle an emotional debate that has raged within the Army and was settled only last week by the service's most senior generals.
The disparity at issue is that infantrymen and non-infantry soldiers who face the same risks in the same gunbattle at close range are treated differently by the Army in terms of badges.
Until now, only infantrymen who participated in direct combat missions and came under fire were given the Combat Infantryman Badge, a coveted distinction that counts in their favor when eligible for promotions. There is no equivalent recognition for artillerymen or others who came under fire.
Since the wars began in Afghanistan and Iraq, the inequity became increasingly controversial within the Army " particularly in the case of Iraq, where some cavalry scouts and other non-infantry soldiers have been reorganized into infantrylike units to perform infantrylike close-combat missions.
More on this Story (http://washtimes.com/national/20050218-103522-9559r.htm)
================================================== ===
And the clarified criteria for the Army Close Combat Badge:
Army's chief of personnel clarifies criteria for new Close Combat Badge
By Leo Shane III, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Sunday, February 20, 2005
WASHINGTON — The Army’s new combat badge is designed to honor non-infantry soldiers performing infantry work, not simply those who find themselves in combat situations, the service’s chief of personnel said Friday.
“While everyone in Iraq and Afghanistan is in harm’s way, there is a difference between combat operations such as patrols fighting off attacks and deliberately planned offensive combat missions,” said Lt. Gen. Franklin L. “Buster” Hagenbeck.
“The [new badge] is the right thing to do to recognize those soldiers in units purposefully reorganized to serve as infantry and conducting infantry-unique missions.”
Criteria for the Close Combat Badge, unveiled last week, will mirror that of the Army’s 62-year-old Combat Infantry Badge, awarded to infantry units and special forces who engage in active ground combat.
Hagenbeck said the CCB was created after generals in the war on terror complained that “de facto infantry” — non-infantry units that have been reorganized for that type of combat missions — were not being properly recognized for their work.
The Close Combat Badge will be awarded to soldiers with military occupational specialties in armor, the cavalry, combat engineering, and field artillery. Officers must have a branch or specialty recognized in Army regulations as “having a high probability to routinely engage in direct combat.”
More on this Story (http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=27298)