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The Combat Infantryman Badge


Steve B.
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First is a post-war German-made silver bullion bevo CIB. The silver thread is soo tarnished that it is almost invisible against the brownish rayon background:

 

CIB_Bevo_4.jpg

 

This is a nicely embroidered CIB on thick brown wool, probably English-made. The moths have been busy on this one as can be seen by the numerous holes on the left side:

 

CIB_English_Wool.jpg

 

This is embroidered on what appears to be standard WWII-era wool shirt material, with a blue background made of a thin cotton material. It is probably Italian-made. The stain is of unknown origin, possibly marinara sauce!

 

CIB_Italian_2.jpg

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Hi Steve how are ya buddy.....Guys a quick question ...Steve if we have discussed this before the case of CRS is getting worse with age...:-)

 

Could a member of an ARMORED-INFANTRY battalion be awarded the CIB ?

 

Regards

 

Lloyd

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Hi Lloyd!

 

Absolutely YES! Armored infantry was still infantry, just assigned to an armored division instead of a regular infantry division or an airborne division. They got to ride part-way in halftracks or on tanks, but the airborne got to ride part way in airplanes. Once on the ground, all are infantry.

 

Take care-

 

Steve

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For anyone else interested in CIBs, here is a website that you might find helpful: http://36thair3ad.homestead.com/CIB.html

 

That's always been a frustrating site because there is something non-standard in the HTML and for many people - myself included - the photos are on top of the text, which is a shame because it looks like it could be a valuable resource. So I appreciate anything that is posted here.

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craig_pickrall

I have always heard those with Stainless Steel Clutches date to WW2. You can see an example of that in post 14, top. I think the pins and clutches co-existed for a while but the pin backs were probably out of the system by the end of the Korean War.

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craig_pickrall

The EIB is an award for passing skill tests. The CIB is for time in combat. Both were created in WW2. The rules for awarding the CIB has changed several times over the yeras and I'm sure the same is true of the EIB.

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Your 2 piece CIB is really an EIB with an upgrade wreath to a CIB. Interesting piece, this is only the second one I've seen. If a soldier has been awarded a EIB then qualifies for a CIB, he is only issued 1 badge. However, by buying the detachable wreaths he can update his existing EIBs.

The qualification test for EIB is nothing to sniff at. They test all aspects of an Infantryman's job and the test usually takes up to a week to administer. When I was stationed in Alaska I was tagged to help administer the EIB at Ft. Wainwright. We had several CIB holders that wanted to take the EIB. Most of them failed and one staff sergeant grumbled " This is tough... all I had to do to get my CIB was get shot at for 30 days!"

 

BEAR

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craig_pickrall
Your 2 piece CIB is really an EIB with an upgrade wreath to a CIB. Interesting piece, this is only the second one I've seen. If a soldier has been awarded a EIB then qualifies for a CIB, he is only issued 1 badge. However, by buying the detachable wreaths he can update his existing EIBs.

The qualification test for EIB is nothing to sniff at. They test all aspects of an Infantryman's job and the test usually takes up to a week to administer. When I was stationed in Alaska I was tagged to help administer the EIB at Ft. Wainwright. We had several CIB holders that wanted to take the EIB. Most of them failed and one staff sergeant grumbled " This is tough... all I had to do to get my CIB was get shot at for 30 days!"

 

BEAR

 

Bear, thanks for the comments. That EIB is a WW2 era with Stainless clutches and short pins. I do not know this for sure but I think that wreath came from Italy. The EIB with wreath came from a vet of the 34th INF DIV. I have posted the series of patches that I got from the same vet in the 34th INF DIV thread in the patch section.

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Thanks, Ernie!

 

Here are a few more variant CIBs:

 

Chain stitched with blue wool on wool shirt flannel. Italian-made perhaps?

 

post-9-1164775558.jpg

 

Next is another variant, this one with screwback fasteners. These are generally thought of as German-made.

 

post-9-1164775630.jpg

 

And the reverse:

 

post-9-1164775656.jpg

 

Here are a couple of real odd-balls. I don't know what to think of them. Perhaps someone's idea of what a combat armor/cavalry and combat artillery badge should look like?

 

post-9-1164775775.jpg

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craig_pickrall

That German made piece is a real beauty. Very nice!

 

The probable Italian made piece is very nice as well.

 

I'm curious about the 2 colored CIB's. The only ARMOR or ARTY pieces I have ever seen don't have the flintlock rifle. They either had the crossed cannons or the front view tank on them. The colors were red or yellow to go with the branch color. They are nice items. Do you think they might be as old as the Korean war? They first started using "fancy" name tapes then and many of the early ones were done in branch colors. I can see someone that had a CIB from WW2 but serving in ARM or CAV might have these made to match name tapes.

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