Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Leah Kilpatrick | Two hundred twenty infantrymen from the 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry...... read more read more
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CAMP BUEHRING, Kuwait – Competition can often bring out the best in people. Whether a person is competing with another individual or with themselves, they are challenged to come out on top.
Two hundred twenty infantrymen from the 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division engaged in a week of intense competition, not against each other and not even against themselves. These Soldiers competed against long-established standards to earn the coveted Expert Infantryman Badge — 29 emerged victorious.
“It shows that you are a master of your skill level one tasks,” said 1st Sgt. Nathanael Greene, first sergeant of Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 3rd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division.
After two weeks of train-up, the candidates began testing week with the Army Physical Fitness test. While the Army standard is at least 60 percent in each of three events – pushups, situps and a 2-mile run – to pass the EIB’s physical fitness test, candidates had to score at least 80 percent in each event.
“It always starts with the PT test,” said Greene. “And when it starts out, 42 percent are going to lose immediately for multiple reasons – not making the run, pushups, situps – whatever it is.”
Ever true to historical trends, 220 candidates began the APFT; when the last person crossed the finish line, 122 remained.
“And then the percentage decreases, because the number is smaller, but normally you end up with 10 to 15 percent who actually make it,” Greene said. “So if we end up with 50 EIBs out of this, that will be a huge number.”
The competition had just gotten started, and already nearly half the candidates were out, but those remaining weren’t even close to being finished. Up next – day and night land navigation.
“And you’re doing it in Kuwait where it’s between 95 and 120 degrees depending on the day and the night you’re doing it, so now you’re not just adding the normal work environment, you’re throwing a heat index on it, so it’s going to be tough,” said Greene. “The heat and the humidity will be playing a factor.”
Because of the environment to which the brigade is currently deployed, the EIB was scheduled on a reverse schedule where the Soldiers rested during the heat of the day and commenced their EIB tasks starting at 8 p.m. until 8 a.m.
“Land navigation is the only one that will have some daytime and nighttime hours in it,” Greene said. “We’re doing all the lane stuff – medical, patrol and weapons – at night to try to keep the sun off the Soldiers. That’s another mitigating factor that we’re using to at least not have the sun on top of the heat and humidity.”
One hundred sixteen candidates now remained and began testing on the 30 tasks split between three lanes – the patrol lane, the medical lane, and the weapons lane. Whether it was lack of attention to detail or a momentary lapse in judgement, slowly but surely, that number was whittled away.
The tasks had to be executed step-by-step in sequence and perfectly. The standard is established, and there is no getting around it. Candidates can retest after one no-go in an event, but two no-go’s in the same event or three cumulative no-go’s leaves a candidates with no more chances.
“You get flustered,” said Greene, who earned his EIB in 2004 after his third attempt. “There’s a lot of stuff going on. You have to memorize everything. You’re talking not just the road march or ‘The Bull,’ not just land nav or the PT test, but there’s 30 stations that all have subtasks inside each one, and they have to memorize each one at every station and what they’re supposed to do on it. If they mess up one thing, they’re out.”
“I’m making it this year,” said Staff Sgt. John Agoo, infantryman assigned to Bravo Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd ABCT, who attempted the EIB for the second time. His advice to his Soldiers was, “Try to get in a small group where everybody actually wants it. Take your time. Don’t let the nerves get the better of you.”
At 2 a.m. on Oct. 1, after training for two weeks and perfectly executing task after task after task, 36 candidates stepped off with 35-pound ruck sacks on their backs and a burning desire in their hearts – a desire to wear the badge.
When their bodies begged them to quit, when their feet felt like they were on fire, they persevered. They put one foot in front of the other, and many of them ran – didn’t walk, but ran to get their badge.
Even at the completion of 12 grueling miles in less than three hours, the exhausted candidates were still not done. They still had to pass Objective Bull, a series of medical tasks standing between the candidates and that shiny new badge.
“Twelve miles is not the endstate; 12 miles is how to get from one place to another,” Greene said. “Now can you do something, completely exhausted after walking for three hours or less carrying a pack and accomplish a mission at the end of that 12 miles. It’s that final mental test. It’s not a difficult thing.”
“When I went through, it was disassemble, reassemble and do a functions check on an M4, and if you screwed that up, you’re done,” Greene added. “Like, that 12-miler, even though you did it in an hour and a half or however fast you did it, it didn’t matter. That whole thing was a fail.”
The scene at the Objective Bull lane was a pressure cooker of emotions.
Some were stoically fighting back tears. Some were grimacing in pain as muscles they didn’t even know they had screamed out in agony. Some brand new badge holders, overcome with adrenaline, were slapping high-fives and running from place to place motivating those who were still trying to complete Objective Bull. And some were so exhausted, so physically spent, they nearly fell over while attempting to drag 130 pounds of sandbags wrapped up in an evacuation sled from one point to another.
And these same Soldiers got a miraculous jolt of energy when they crossed the finish line and were met with jubilant cheers of, “Congratulations, Expert!”
“It’s a big relief,” said said Sgt. Todd Cayaditto, an infantryman assigned to Charlie Company, 3rd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd ABCT and a brand new badge holder who earned it on his third attempt. “Now I can walk around with an EIB on my chest, and people will know I’m an infantryman.”
“You infantrymen, you are the decisive effort,” said Brig. Gen. Jeff Van, deputy commanding general of 35th Infantry Division and guest speaker of the EIB graduation ceremony. “Infantry units bear the largest brunt of warfare and typically suffer the greatest number of casualties during warfare campaigns. You are the Soldier that everybody else relies on to conduct direct combat operations, seize terrain and hold it by putting your feet on it. Your boots on soil is what drives the national strategy of our country and ensures freedom in our country. Getting the expert infantry badge is special. As your counterparts who did not pass will attest this is no easy task. This is especially within the infantry community a rite of passage. You are in a fraternity of men that comprise the best Soldiers in the Army. Be proud of what you just accomplished. Be proud of what you stand for. You are part of a profession of arms that spans the globe and is required for peace and security in any nation.”
| Date Taken: | 09.27.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 10.05.2017 05:31 |
| Story ID: | 250643 |
| Location: | CAMP BUEHRING, KW |
| Web Views: | 120 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Earned not given: Cav Soldiers battle exhaustion, the elements, the standard, by SFC Leah Kilpatrick, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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