CAMP BONDSTEEL, Kosovo — Why is the sky blue? Because God loves the infantry. Sky blue, or Infantry blue, a color that has been associated with the infantry since 1924 also adorns the Expert Infantryman's Badge, a badge of honor for any infantryman that earns it. The EIB has been around since October 1943 and is just as hard to earn today as it was when it was first created.
"It is the Expert Infantryman's Badge not the Everybody's Infantry Badge," said Command Sgt. Maj. Michael Almasy, who earned his EIB more than 20 years prior. "Only about five to ten percent of people who try for it actually get it."
Candidates testing for their EIB have to go through a grueling six day event where everything they know is tested. Some of the tasks included are physical fitness, knowledge of weapons systems, Nuclear Biological Chemical attacks, land navigation, dress policies and hand-and-arm signals.
"It was one of the hardest things I've done yet in the Army," said 1st Lt. Gregory Romero, EIB candidate. "There are a total of 34 tasks that we have to complete at an expert level. Unfortunately I was not able to complete all of them; I only had 4 more tasks left."
Out of the more than 100 candidates for the EIB, none of them made it through to the end.
"When we started our stations testing we only had four candidates left," said Lt. Col. Anthony Noll. "By the last day of the testing we had two candidates to begin with and none by the end of the day. It just goes to show how hard it is to earn an EIB."
| Date Taken: | 10.21.2009 |
| Date Posted: | 10.21.2009 10:09 |
| Story ID: | 40458 |
| Location: | CAMP BONDSTEEL, ZZ |
| Web Views: | 436 |
| Downloads: | 409 |
This work, Earning the Elusive EIB, by Darriel Swatts, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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