Tag: EIB

Congratulation to these soldiers at Ft. Bragg:

Women quietly broke through barriers last fall when they became the first in the Army to earn the prestigious Expert Infantryman Badge at Fort Bragg.

The badge, which was created in the 1940s, only recently opened to women when the Department of Defense struck down regulations that prevented them from serving in infantry jobs. The women earned the badge during testing with hundreds of male candidates in November — about two years after infantry jobs opened to women.

“This historic achievement is a reminder of the great things we can achieve when women are seen and treated as equals and given the same chance to contribute to their country,” U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth said in a statement. The Democrat from Illinois was among the first Army women to fly combat missions during Operation Iraqi Freedom.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link, but what is ironic about this is that female ROK soldiers have been able to earn the EIB before female US Army soldiers:

https://www.rokdrop.net/2016/06/female-rok-army-captain-awarded-us-army-expert-infantryman-badge/

Congratulations to First Lieutenant Ji Eun Jeong for being awarded the US Army’s Expert Infantryman Badge.  She is considered the first female ROK Army officer to receive the badge.  Two years ago two female ROK Army NCOs became the first Korean females to be awarded the EIB:

May 26, 2016 – CAMP CASEY, Republic of Korea – Soldiers congratulate Republic of Korea Army 1st Lt. Ji Eun Jeong, a platoon leader in the 115th Mechanized Infantry Battalion, 90th Mech. Inf. Brigade, 30th Mech. Inf. Division, on earning an U.S. Army Expert Infantryman Badge. Jeong, a 25-year-old from Seoul, South Korea, is the first female ROK officer to complete the EIB. South Korean officers are not actually authorized to wear the U.S. badge, but were pinned during the ceremony and awarded a certificate of achievement. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Keith Anderson, 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team Public Affairs, 1st Cav. Div.)  [PACOM.mil]

Here are some statistics of how many failed to pass the testing:

Included in the final number to complete the challenge were more than 40 ROKA Soldiers, including Republic of Korea Army 1st Lt. Ji Eun Jeong, a platoon leader in the 115th Mechanized Infantry Battalion, 90th Mech. Inf. Brigade, 30th Mech. Inf. Division. Jeong was the first female ROK officer to earn the EIB. A female ROK NCO completed the grueling challenge last year to earn her EIB.

“I want a specialty for infantry, and EIB is a challenge for female Soldiers,” said Jeong.

Of the 627 Soldiers who started the EIB testing in South Korea May 22, only 131 finished and earned the honor of wearing the Expert Infantryman Badge. And of those, 29 distinguished themselves as “True Blue” Infantryman by successfully completing every event without retest and receiving first time “go’s” on every evaluation – 18 U.S. and 11 South Korean Soldiers.  [DVIDS]

That is a pretty high attrition rate and thus shows how hard the awardees worked to get the EIB. According to the Korea Times 1st Lt. Jeong did 200 pushups, 200 sit-ups and ran 7 kilometers each day to prepare for the test.  She also qualified for the ROK Army’s version of the EIB in November 2015 which made her eligible to compete for the US Army’s EIB last month.  Incredibly the attrition rate for the ROK Army EIB is much higher than the US Army EIB:

Only infantry personnel are eligible to participate in both the EIB test and South Korea’s equivalent test.

The U.S. military officially opened the door for women on ground combat jobs beginning in January and there were no female participants from the U.S. side this year, according to the South Korean military.

In November 2015, Jeong was the only woman among the four successful candidates who took the South Korean infantry test. A total of 85 soldiers took the test then.  [Korea Times]

Only 4 of 85 passed the ROK Army EIB testing which is pretty amazing.  It sounds like the US Army get our infantrymen to compete in the ROK Army EIB testing for an additional skills challenge.