Combat Action Badge
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| Combat Action Badge | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Awarded by United States Army | |
| Type | Badge |
| Eligibility | Serving with a U.S. Army Unit |
| Awarded for | Active engagement or being engaged by the enemy after September 18, 2001 |
| Status | Currently awarded |
| Statistics | |
| Established | May 2, 2005 |
| First awarded | June 29, 2005 |
| Last awarded | On going |
| Distinct recipients |
3,618 in OEF (as of July '06)[1] 20,784 in OIF (as of July '06)[2] |
| Precedence | |
| Next (higher) | None |
| Same | (Group 1 badges) CIB - EIB - CAB |
| Next (lower) | (Group 2 badges) CMB - EFMB |
The Combat Action Badge (or CAB) is a military badge worn in the U.S. Army. The emblem features both a M9 bayonet and M67 grenade. The Combat Action Badge may be awarded to any soldier after the date of September 18, 2001 performing duties in an area where hostile fire pay or imminent danger pay is authorized, who is personally present and actively engaging or being engaged by the enemy, and performing satisfactorily in accordance with the prescribed rules of engagement. Award is not limited by one's branch of service or military occupational specialty, but is only authorized for wear on U.S. Army uniforms. A silver badge 2 inches (5.08cm) in width overall consisting of an oak wreath supporting a rectangle bearing a bayonet surmounting a grenade, all silver. Stars are added at the top to indicate subsequent awards; one star for the second award, two stars for the third award and three stars for the fourth award. In comparison to the Combat Infantryman Badge (CIB), the CAB has a silver rectangle backing rather than blue, and the CAB is 1 inch shorter in length than the CIB.
[edit] History
The CAB was originally planned as a ribbon which was to have been known as the "Combat Recognition Ribbon". However, as ribbons are generally seen as less prestigious than medals and badges, the CAB was then proposed as the "Close Combat Badge" (or CCB), thus granting the award badge status vice ribbon. This was to be a combat award only for soldiers who did not hold the infantry military occupational specialty (MOS), but who were deployed specifically to fulfill an infantry duty. This was in response to the large number of non-infantry (tank crews, for example) who were deployed to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and whose units were reorganized to function as infantry (motorized or light) due to the lack of need for tanks and shortage of infantry.
The change from the CCB to the CAB may have come about thanks to a question put to Donald Rumsfeld in an April 2005 Afghanistan townhall meeting by a female military police soldier as to why the CCB would not include military police soldiers in its awarding criteria despite the combat nature of the military police's job in Afghanistan and Iraq's 360-degree battlefield.
The CAB creation was approved by the U.S. Army on May 2, 2005 and can be retroactively awarded to soldiers who engaged in combat after September 18, 2001. Gen. Peter J. Schoomaker awarded the Army's new Combat Action Badge for the first time to five soldiers (including one female soldier) on June 29, 2005.
In spite of the criteria established by the Army, most commanders do not issue this award to qualified soldiers unless this they are directly engaged in combat. Army leaders treat the CAB as an "award" subject to rigorous quotas.[citation needed]
