Dear Army: if you have to introduce your new badge with a disclaimer…

Ooh-Rah

Ooh-Rah

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... see also, black beret.

Army Swears Expert Action Badge Isn't A Participation Trophy

Earlier this year, the Army announced plans for a new badge to test soldiers from military occupational specialities who don’t have a formal way to certify their skills. Under the plan, everyone — not just grunts, medics or non-infantry soldiers who see combat — can get a badge.

The Expert Action Badge is undergoing testing and is still just a concept, but that hasn’t stopped critics from speaking up at a recent town hall hosted by the Army’s Training and Doctrine Command; soldiers have also voiced their concerns in the comment sections of articles all across the internet. Many argued that the proposed badge is a participation trophy for POGs.
 
Please don't remind me about that black beret. As a first sergeant, I looked for every excuse to get my company out of wearing that frigging thing!

As for the new badge, I think any competition award can be used to motivate soldiers to be better and to stand out more than their peers. In this regard, it could be useful if its truly earned. I'll always believe we should reward top performers no matter the MOS. If everyone gets a trophy, then its absolutely useless. The award system was FUBAR when I retired. In contrast, I am of the school of thought that we can just leave the badges and awards at home on a daily basis and just let the bling speak on judgement day (i.e. promotion boards), or when in dress uniform.
 
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I went through the jungle warfare school run by 7th SF Group in Panama and participated in numerous air assault/vertical envelopment exercises in Huey's, 46s and 53s with 2/6 after Vietnam...and if I'd been in the Army I would've gotten the Jungle Expert patch and the Air Assault badge...and probably a few more trinkets as well.
 
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Red Flag 1 said:
I went to Squadron Officers School in Residence @ Maxwell AFB, Al. Our section leader was a Capt with maybe seven years TIS. Most of us were Pilots, Pocket Rocket guys, WSO's and a sprinkling of Admin Medical guys. The bulk also had ribbons in addition to Corps devices. The section leader's wife was pissed because her husband, our "teacher," had a single National Defense Ribbon, with nothing above. I could see her point, but it is what it is. He spent most of his time keeping her away from us during social events. Things are prolly different today.
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I'm sure that non deploying Airman would have more ribbons than Michaels in the modern Air Force.
 
Diamondback 2/2 said:
But FOBITS should have to wear pink stripes...:D
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It's funny what becomes a badge of honor during wartime. Sometimes it's just the way you look, the wear and tear on your boots, your gear, the way you carry yourself...

In my war, the few times we had occasion to venture into Danang, we got stares. Our jungle boots were tan and soft like moccasins from wear and constant immersion, all the black had worn off, the green webbing had faded; we had dried caked paddy mud up to our knees, we wore OD green t-shirts under our flak vests; our bush hats had grenade rings in them, our dogtags were in our boot laces. Our weapons were banged up on the outside but pristine on the inside with a hot one up the pipe at all times, safety on. We had kabars, mag pouches and canteens hanging off our belts and our faces had to look like we hadn't had a good night's sleep in a month, which was absolutely true, sitting in ambush sites every night and trying to catch a few hours sleep during the day. The palms of our hands were stained a brownish-orange that didn't come off. It was from nicotine, cupping a cigarette so tight between your palms that only the filter protruded from between your thumbs. And everybody smoked. Like fucking chimneys. Especially after a contact and you find yourself alive, the epinephrine still coursing through your tubes.

It made us feel kind of proud in a way walking into Freedom Hill or III MAF Disbursing with everybody staring at us like we were a bunch of renegade outlaws. Yeah, we envied their hot chow, we envied their soft racks...but we didn't envy the spit shined jungle boots, starched utilities and the red wooden blocks in their mag wells...nothing like months in the bush to make garrison life seem very alien.

Maybe it's better than any badge or patch or trinket. So Expert Action Badges, Black Berets, Superhero costumes don't mean diddlysquat when the rubber meets the road. It's the look in a man or woman's eyes that'll probably ell you all you need to know.
 
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x SF med said:
So.... now you get a badge for basically passing the Common Skills portion of an SQT test... wtf is wrong with Army Leadership?
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I'm guessing they're just incentive-crazy. I can understand it to an extent. But if you carry it to an extreme you cheapen the whole deal.

How did SF and Rangers and Airborne guys feel when the Army came out with a beret for everybody?
 

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