Vern Evans
Soldiers who’ve both served in combat and mastered their job skills will soon earn a new badge recognizing both achievements.
The Master Combat Badge indicates that the soldier wearing the new device has had both a combat award and achieved expert qualification in their military occupational specialty, Sergeant Major of the Army Michael Weimer during a panel Tuesday at the Association of the U.S. Army’s Annual Meeting and Exposition.
A distinct feature of the new badge is a gold wreath, instead of silver.
Currently, soldiers may not wear both their combat badge and their expert badge for their job field at the same time on their uniform. They had to choose.
But with the combined device, both efforts are recognized.
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For example, the Combat Infantry Badge is awarded to infantry soldiers and Army Special Forces who’ve experienced direct action against an enemy. While the Expert Infantry Badge is awarded after a soldier passes a litany of tests that measure their effectiveness in infantry skills.
The service also awards expert badges to medics and the expert soldier badge to non-infantry soldiers.
The Army plans to award the Master Combat Infantryman Badge, the Master Combat Medical Badge and the Master Combat Action Badge.
Weimer also said that the service is redesigning a Mountaineering Badge that will no longer feature the ram’s head image that the old badge used.
The top enlisted soldier also said he recommended the Mariner’s Badge for approval for Army mariners, such as those who manned the floating pier off the coast of Gaza this past year.
Todd South has written about crime, courts, government and the military for multiple publications since 2004 and was named a 2014 Pulitzer finalist for a co-written project on witness intimidation. Todd is a Marine veteran of the Iraq War.
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