Talk:Combat Action Badge

Untitled
I think I've pretty successfully wikified this article, but it would benefit greatly from some details about the history of the badge (when it was concieved, how it has looked over the years, which award it replaced, etc.) so I've added a stub tag for the time being. Fernando Rizo 20:09, 19 Jun 2005 (UTC)


 * Excellent job fleshing out the article, anonymous guy 24.18.22.123. You should really consider registering. Between you and I and a few others, we created a highly polished Wikipedia article from scratch in a day. Fernando Rizo 23:01, 19 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Army nomenclature
Army regs cap all first letters of the CAB according to info from the Institute of Heraldry. The page move also fixed several redirect problems. Hope nobody minded. BTW- great article, couldn't have done it better myself! :-) -Husnock 02:24, 22 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Wear on Air Force Uniform
I was awarded the CAB when I served in the Army during OIF. I later joined the Air National Guard and found out that it can be worn on Air Force uniform. While I haven't seen it in the regs, many of my fellow airmen that were prior service army wear the CAB or CIB on both BDU's and Dress uniform.


 * You could add that bit of information to the entry with a citation needed tag. Hopefully someone else will come along with the citation in the regs. But even if it turns out not to be in the regs, it would be nice if we could find something to cite about the CAB often being informally worn on the Air Force uniform in violation of the regs, but unfortunately it is always hard to find sources to cite about the existence of unofficial military practices. -Atfyfe (talk) 16:28, 13 March 2013 (UTC)


 * I don't have easy access to the AFI, but it's always been standard that other branch decorations, with few exceptions, are wearable on the AF uniform, and vice versa for AF decs on Army uniform. There's some workaround on marksmanship (ribbon vs iron), and the PME ribbons don't transfer, but EIB and CIB always did, as do the tabs and qual badges.24.12.61.229 (talk) 03:49, 7 April 2016 (UTC)

Congressional Action FY2011 H.R. 5136 Defense Bill
This legislation includes an amendment extending eligibility for this award to all veterans serving in combat from 1941 up to 2001. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.79.43.207 (talk) 05:12, 1 September 2010 (UTC)


 * Has this passed? Either way, it's worth mentioning that it exists. Thanks for the information. -Atfyfe (talk) 16:28, 13 March 2013 (UTC)

Eligibility and awarding: Indirect Fire
Don't forget that while branch and MOS don't matter: "d. Soldier must not be assigned/attached to a unit that would qualify the soldier for the CIB/CMB."

Also, I have seen many Soldiers receive the CAB for indirect fire when they were in the danger area of an impact or blast. The criteria used was reasonably in danger of injury. 75.110.56.94 (talk) 21:27, 20 January 2011 (UTC)


 * Ditto the above comment The CAB award criteria are written so that Soldiers can and do receive the CAB for indirect fire. I have known many Soldiers that have received the CAB due to mortar or rocket attacks, and I would bet you that the majority of individuals that received the CAB at or above the COL level were under IDF attack when they earned it.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 139.139.83.69 (talk) 13:16, 15 June 2012 (UTC)

Actually, per AR 600-8-22, "the CAB is intended to serve as a companion to the CIB and CMB to recognize the greatly expanded role of non-infantry Soldiers in active, ground combat." Active, Ground Combat's definition "has been clarified over time as being personally present, under fire, and engaging in action against the enemy in ground forces combat. It is not awarded for battle participation credit." Further, AR 600-8-22 Section 8-8 states "a Soldier must also be performing in an offensive or defensive act while participating in combat operations, engaging, or being engaged by the enemy". So if the Recommender / Approving Officer reviews the regulation, IDF would not qualify as the intent of the Combat Action Badge is the recognition of non-infantry who are actively engaged with enemy combatants in ground combat. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 73.243.160.186 (talk) 19:48, 6 November 2021 (UTC)

Eligibility and awarding: Infantry
The intro paragraph says that the CAB is available to all MOS "except infantry." However, if an 11B is attached to a non-infantry unit when in combat, he may receive the CAB instead of the CIB. It's confusing to see a silver CAB on a set of ASUs with a fourragere, but they're out there. Thus, infantry is not necessarily exempt from the CAB. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 12.47.254.11 (talk) 00:36, 13 March 2013 (UTC)


 * Good point! Thanks for the notice. What about the CMB? - Atfyfe (talk) 16:14, 13 March 2013 (UTC)


 * Here's my fix: "The CAB may be awarded to any branch of service or military occupational specialty except when serving in a role that makes a soldier eligible for the Combat Infantryman Badge or Combat Medical Badge." I would love it if someone could improve the wording. -Atfyfe (talk) 16:20, 13 March 2013 (UTC)

Arguments against the creation of the CAB
Early in the history section for the CAB it would be nice if someone could explain why the army resisted for so long the creation of something like the CAB. Maybe discuss why a combat badge was originally created just for infantryman, then how/why the army was later willing to create the CMB but still unwilling to create anything like the CAB. -Atfyfe (talk) 17:20, 13 March 2013 (UTC)

Propaganda aside
"Over one hundred thousand badges have been awarded since the creation of the award.[6] Most commanders do not issue this award to qualified soldiers unless they are directly engaged in combat"

Those quotes alone contradict each other. The CAB is handed out like candy. If the base MIGHT have come under fire during the duration, the CAB was awarded.24.12.61.229 (talk) 03:52, 7 April 2016 (UTC)

--That is ubiquitous for about every Army award. I received my CIB for being an Infantryman assigned to Division as a computer repair technician. They never even gave us live rounds in Saudi Arabia. The Division commander gave everyone in the Division a CIB that had an 11x MOS. My Dad got a Bronze star in Nam as a supply specialist for stealing a 5-ton full of plywood to build a colonels office. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.210.235.219 (talk) 01:35, 7 June 2022 (UTC)

Afghanistan
That operation is over. Has an ending date been officially determined? 2A00:23C7:E287:1900:47B:9DE:F8F4:EC28 (talk) 21:42, 30 December 2021 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified 3 one external links on Combat Action Badge. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20131017045050/http://armypubs.army.mil/epubs/pdf/r600_8_22.pdf to http://armypubs.army.mil/epubs/pdf/r600_8_22.pdf
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20131017045050/http://armypubs.army.mil/epubs/pdf/r600_8_22.pdf to http://armypubs.army.mil/epubs/pdf/r600_8_22.pdf
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20131017045050/http://armypubs.army.mil/epubs/pdf/r600_8_22.pdf to http://armypubs.army.mil/epubs/pdf/r600_8_22.pdf

When you have finished reviewing my changes, please set the checked parameter below to true or failed to let others know (documentation at ).

Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot  (Report bug) 11:13, 28 November 2016 (UTC)