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Combat Action Badge

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Combat Action Badge
TypeBadge
EligibilityServing with a U.S. Army Unit
StatusCurrently awarded
EstablishedMay 2, 2005
Precedence
Next (higher)None
Equivalent(Group 1 badges)
CIB • EIB • CAB
Next (lower)(Group 2 badges)
CMB • EFMB
RelatedUSN/USMC Combat Action Ribbon
USAF Combat Action Medal

The Combat Action Badge (or CAB) is a military badge worn in the U.S. Army. The emblem features both an M9 bayonet and M67 grenade. The Combat Action Badge may be awarded to any soldier after the date of September 18, 2001 performing duties in an area where hostile fire pay or imminent danger pay is authorized, who is personally present and actively engaging or being engaged by the enemy, and performing satisfactorily in accordance with the prescribed rules of engagement. Award is not limited by one's branch of service or military occupational specialty, but is only authorized for wear on U.S. Army uniforms. A silver badge 2 inches (5.08 cm) in width overall consisting of an oak wreath supporting a rectangle bearing a bayonet surmounting a grenade, all silver. Stars are added at the top to indicate subsequent awards; one star for the second award, two stars for the third award and three stars for the fourth award. In comparison to the Combat Infantryman Badge (CIB), the CAB has a silver rectangle backing rather than blue, and the CAB is 1 inch shorter in length than the CIB.

History

Throughout the Vietnam War and afterward, troops serving in combat engineer and armored units clamored for their own version of the EIB/CIB. Despite numerous staff studies and recommendations, the request never gained the support of senior army leadership. However, as soldiers from across the spectrum of Military Occupational Specialties (MOS) engaged in direct contact with enemy forces in the Global War on Terror, the proposal gained new traction.

It appears that the concept for the current Combat Action Badge came from an article written for Armor magazine in the Spring of 2004 in which Major Matthew De Pirro asserts the need for such a badge based upon the evolving face of warfare and the ongoing transformation of the Army.[2] De Pirro stated:

Fellow troopers, I submit to you that our Army would be better served by recognizing our soldiers who have faced an enemy in direct-fire combat with a Combat Action Badge. We are an Army in transformation. A few years ago, we donned the black beret as a symbol of that transformation. It is time for the disparity of the Combat Infantry Badge to end. It is time for the perceived badge wars to end. It is now time to take our transformation one step further. It is time for the Combat Action Badge.

The CAB was originally planned as a ribbon which was to have been known as the "Combat Recognition Ribbon". However, as ribbons are generally seen as less prestigious than medals and badges, the CAB was then proposed as the "Close Combat Badge" (or CCB), thus granting the award badge status vice ribbon. This was to be a combat award only for soldiers who did not hold the infantry military occupational specialty (MOS), but who were deployed specifically to fulfill an infantry duty. This was in response to the large number of non-infantry (tank crews, for example) who were deployed to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and whose units were reorganized to function as infantry (motorized or light) due to the lack of need for tanks and shortage of infantry.

The change from the Close Combat Badge to the CAB may have come about thanks to a question put to Donald Rumsfeld in an April 2005 Afghanistan town hall meeting by a female military police soldier as to why the CCB would not include military police soldiers in its awarding criteria despite the combat nature of the military police's job in Afghanistan and Iraq's 360-degree battlefield.[3]

The CAB creation was approved by the U.S. Army on May 2, 2005 and can be retroactively awarded to soldiers who engaged in combat after September 18, 2001.[4] Gen. Peter J. Schoomaker awarded the Army's new Combat Action Badge for the first time to a Sergeant April Pashley and four other soldiers on June 29, 2005.[5]

The criteria for the badge does not specify the nature of the hostile fire that a soldier must receive to be awarded. In practice, though, most commanders do not issue this award to qualified soldiers unless they are directly engaged in combat, to include indirect fire engagements, and IED strikes. Notably, it is granted exclusively for contact with enemy combatants, so actions by noncombatants likes detainees or rioting civilians do not qualify. It should also be noted that endless memos have been written by commanders to deter the CAB from being awarded, leading to indirect fire usually being discounted unless it results in the death of the soldier.

The award is not available to U.S. Army combat veterans of previous conflicts.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b "Awards and Decorations Branch, Soldier Programs and Services Division". United States Army Human Resources Command. Retrieved August 19, 2010.
  2. ^ http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0PAB/is_3_113/ai_n6045089[dead link]
  3. ^ "News Transcript: Secretary Rumsfeld Townhall Meeting in Kandahar, Afghanistan". United States Department of Defense. April 13, 2005. Retrieved August 19, 2010.
  4. ^ "Combat Action Badge Information". United States Army. After June 29, 2005. Retrieved August 19, 2010. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  5. ^ "Combat Action Badge Soldier Biographies". United States Army. After June 29, 2005. Retrieved August 19, 2010. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
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