Expert Infantryman Badge gets back to its roots

By Sgt. Joseph Guenther
3rd BCT, 82nd Abn. Div. PAO

November 17, 2011

	Photo by Sgt. Joseph Guenther/3rd BCT, 82nd Abn. Div. PAO Pvt. 1st Class Moses Villanueva, an infantryman with Company B, 2nd Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, maneuvers to his next covered position on the patrols lane at the Medical Simulation Training Center Nov. 2, as he tries to earn the Expert Infantryman Badge.

More than 400 Paratroopers from 2nd Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division gathered at the Medical Simulation Training Center here for an opportunity to earn the coveted Expert Infantryman Badge (EIB) in a new and unique format starting on Oct. 31.

The field environment available at MSTC is not an uncommon one for candidates trying to earn the EIB. The method of testing, historically by the numbers per task, has evolved into combat scenario-based testing in which candidates must complete tasks as they fit into the scenario.

While traditional Soldier skills and tests such as land navigation, the 12-mile road march, and the Army Physical Fitness Test (APFT) remain part of EIB testing, the days of candidates approaching one testing station, performing a series of tasks for a particular item of equipment, being graded, and moving on to the next testing station are gone.

Infantrymen are still tested on essential skills and the ability to handle their equipment, but those stations are now part of three 20-minute lanes: patrols, urban environment, and traffic control point.

To ensure that the current version of EIB testing was being conducted in accordance with guidelines from the U.S. Army Infantry School at Fort Benning, Ga., officials from the school visited the lanes here and spoke with the local cadre and determined that the lanes were effectively meeting the standard, said Master Sgt. Tim Thede, the noncommissioned officer in charge of the event.

Candidates may face the lanes in any order, and are challenged to complete tasks such as using hand and arm signals on patrols, throwing grenades, and calling for fire, all while facing simulated combat scenarios.

The new lanes are meant to create a real-world combat environment to test the candidates under the pressures of combat, said 1st Sgt. Travis Thompson of Company B, 2nd Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat, 82nd Airborne Division.

This revised method of testing is actually how candidates were originally intended to earn the EIB when it was established in 1943, said Thede.

“We’re going back in time to do EIB the way it was done back then,” Thede said. “It was more lanes and performance oriented then instead of precision oriented. The standards haven’t changed, just the conditions. It’s mission oriented and makes the Soldier make decisions as he goes through the lane.”

Thede continued, “If the Soldier shows that he can do the task and that he can do it proficiently, he has succeeded. It doesn’t matter if his palm is up or down when pulling a charging handle of the M249 or the M240.”

One of the purposes of designing this new method of grading candidates is the recognition that if the enemy is defeated in combat, it doesn’t matter if the Soldier charged his weapon palm up or down, said Thede. The enemy is dead, the infantrymen can drive on, and the mission can continue. Nobody is going to stop and say “Hey, that didn’t count because he didn’t do it right,” he explained.

Staff Sgt. Edward Lee, an EIB holder and noncommissioned officer in charge of handling disputes between candidates and graders on the TCP lanes, explained, “A Soldier can perform the steps out of sequence and still get a ‘go’ as long as he’s achieving desired effects.”

Lee warned, however, “We still have to make sure we’re training these guys the right way because lacking attention to detail can lead to developing bad habits.”

After almost a week of day and night testing, the final event drew near for the candidates. On Nov. 4, 2011, the final 12-mile road march began for fewer than 70 remaining candidates.

The route took candidates through the winding firebreaks of Fort Bragg’s extensive training grounds. Traffic was stopped for the candidates as they crossed Longstreet Rd. toward the 6-mile turnaround point, and again as they made the final stride back to the finish line.

At the finish line, nearly two and a half hours after the march began, the first candidate, Spc. Jacob Bauer, arrived. Soon more followed, mostly in groups of two or three. Cheers could be heard for them in every direction while the EIB candidates crossed the finish line, some limping or crawling in exhaustion.

Sixty-six candidates completed the road march within the 3-hour standard. Among them were four “True Blues”, candidates who received a ‘go’ for every single task: Spc. Bryan King, Sgt. Troy Jones, Sgt. 1st Class Brook Redding, and 2nd Lt. Johnathan Steele.

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