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FL, USA
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Posted: 10/17/2020 7:30:02 AM EDT
I have a family member who just earned his EIB. I have was not able to serve so I’m interested in those who have
and their opinion of the two different awards? |
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SC, USA
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Posted: 10/17/2020 7:35:15 AM EDT
[Last Edit: BlueZ]
[#1]
The EIB may be harder to get.. But most everyone will agree that the CIB is more prestigious.
The EIB tests infanteristic individual skills with a high degree of rigor. The CIB of course means u were in Combat as an infantryman. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combat_Infantryman_Badge |
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Posted: 10/17/2020 7:54:12 AM EDT
[#2]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By BlueZ: The EIB may be harder to get.. But most everyone will agree that the CIB is more prestigious. The EIB tests infanteristic individual skills with a high degree of rigor. The CIB of course means u were in Combat as an infantryman. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combat_Infantryman_Badge Earned both but I wore my CIB. There are a few other MOS that can earn both. 18 series being one. |
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FL, USA
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Posted: 10/17/2020 7:55:47 AM EDT
[#3]
Thanks I know the CIB is an award that is an award for being in an area where the awardee has to been under fire,
The EIB seems to be an award that someone who hasn’t been under fire can show competence in the skills needed to be an effective infantry men. |
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Posted: 10/17/2020 9:24:28 AM EDT
[#4]
My CIB came with a Bronze Star and Purple Heart chaser, as such it mean much more to me than an EIB.
18Z50 |
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FL, USA
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Posted: 10/17/2020 11:06:59 AM EDT
[#5]
I hope none who have earned a CIB believe I’m attempting
to diminish your sacrifice in earning a CIB, because that is not my intention. I do have a great appreciation for service. |
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Posted: 10/17/2020 11:48:42 AM EDT
[#6]
Your relative should still be proud to have earned an EIB. If he hasn't been in for very long, he probably hasn't had a chance to deploy, and besides, not everyone will look back on the day they earned their CIB as the happiest day of their life. He might even go on future deployments, and nothing at all will happen to warrant a CIB (and that happens).
GWOT has kind of skewed things a bit, because people were going back 3 and 4 times for years on end. I think you will see a tapering off, unless major combat breaks out again somewhere else in the world. |
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FL, USA
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Posted: 10/17/2020 12:15:52 PM EDT
[#7]
Yes he’s only been active for about 2 years, as he’s
a member of the class of 2018 @ West Point. He’s a very driven person earning Ranger Tab, Air Assault and Airborne qualifications. I would be happy if he never has the need to earn a CIB. |
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Posted: 10/17/2020 12:25:17 PM EDT
[Last Edit: NoImpactNoIdea]
[#8]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By flbulldog: Yes he’s only been active for about 2 years, as he’s a member of the class of 2018 @ West Point. He’s a very driven person earning Ranger Tab, Air Assault and Airborne qualifications. I would be happy if he never has the need to earn a CIB. They are similar awards but very different ways of getting them. It’s similar to a Ranger tab and a Ranger scroll. The tab (like the EIB) says you can do it, the Scroll (like the CIB) says you did it. I’m sure someone here will be so obtuse that they think I’m saying having a CIB is the equivalent to being in regiment, but that’s not what I’m saying at all. Just making a comparison as to being competent in an field and actually doing it. |
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Posted: 10/17/2020 2:17:47 PM EDT
[#9]
I have both. The EIB is a great display of dedication to learning quite a bit of information. The CIB is a product of circumstance. I don’t wear either CIB or EIB, but if I did the CIB means more to me.
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Posted: 1/14/2021 2:18:51 PM EDT
[#10]
CIB is more meaningful to most. Having ran one of the stations as a temporary duty on the EIB Q-course, I can tell you it can be brutal. Certainly not combat-brutal but physically challenging at times. The EIB is well earned.
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PA, USA
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Posted: 5/27/2021 1:02:58 AM EDT
[Last Edit: 1-75Ranger]
[#11]
I have been awarded the CIB twice and was awarded my EIB as a PFC on my first try. For most I thing many award means something to them. I am proud of both.
Now with that said I have seen people awarded CIB's that never left the FOB and paperwork was doctored to say they came close to rocket impacts when they were not. I have been on patrols where dudes who hid most of the deployment are try to get a badge before they go home. Its a warped system. I would say judge the man by his skills and merit, not by his awards. |
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USA
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Posted: 5/27/2021 1:42:58 AM EDT
[#12]
EIB is you vs the standard
CIB is you vs the enemy Both are something to be proud of. Only 11 series and 18 series can earn either. Very few have EIBs, even fewer of us have both. EIB is a huge discriminator in promotions and selections for assignments. Also grading during EIB season, it looks bad ass to have your blue EIB pinned onto your sewn on CIB |
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Posted: 8/12/2021 1:45:32 PM EDT
[#13]
I have both..each conjure up different feelings. EIB was panama in 1991, it wasn't easy, but very satisfying an mildly prestigious for a PFC. CIB, I just had to get shot at an return fire, duck, once I didn't duck fast enough.
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Posted: 8/12/2021 2:20:58 PM EDT
[Last Edit: Mountaineer82]
[#14]
I’ve got both never took EIB seriously because I considered my self a short timer (one enlistment). Decided far into the second one to get serious about it.
Got my EIB with four others from my squad. CSM congratulated my guys and told me that I was a slacker (I had been before). EIB can be a flicker mistress. Some years they were easier than others as far as grading goes. You would hear other Brigades and it was referred to the Free IB. But people who earn them deserve some congratulations. CIB is also hit or miss. Some guys had them participated in Panama and some in Gulf War I. At the time guys with CIB’s were considered seasoned veterans. |
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WA, USA
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Posted: 11/18/2021 6:42:20 PM EDT
[#15]
Not every CIB is earned under fire. For a while it was joking referred to as "Crossed Iraqi Border." It was tightened up later on but there are some people with them who didn't do much.
There are also some infantry who have a CAB because they were assigned above the brigade level. A person could be in the worst fighting in history and get a CAB because they were the driver for division or corps staff. |
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Posted: 11/18/2021 6:55:16 PM EDT
[#16]
Not all CIBs are equal.
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Posted: 11/18/2021 7:00:40 PM EDT
[#17]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By flbulldog: Yes he's only been active for about 2 years, as he's a member of the class of 2018 @ West Point. He's a very driven person earning Ranger Tab, Air Assault and Airborne qualifications. I would be happy if he never has the need to earn a CIB. |
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Posted: 1/14/2022 12:07:46 AM EDT
[#18]
All true statements posted, such as non all CIB's are equal. EIB took a lot of effort, but as was said when I was in ... EIB = Blank Adapter Award. No personal insults intended.
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Posted: 2/16/2022 3:19:00 PM EDT
[Last Edit: Sinister]
[#19]
As a proud second lieutenant who earned my EIB (seven of 105), all my dad's friends and colleagues from WWII-Korea-Vietnam all pointedly let me know, "Hey, the wreath fell off your CIB!"
Jolly jokers. Got the CAB because if you're assigned above brigade you are ineligible for a CIB (HHC, 82d Airborne Division; HQ US Army Element JSOC; HQ USAE USSOCOM; HQ Iraqi Counterterrorism Command, etc.). |
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Posted: 2/18/2022 5:35:14 PM EDT
[#20]
All depends on command. I know dudes with CIBs and CABs that were never in danger of being hurt and never been in combat. Can’t fake the EIB.
Take away here is medals/ribbons/coins mean little until you understand why an individual was awarded it. |
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OR, USA
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Posted: 9/5/2022 7:44:16 PM EDT
[#21]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By 5thLegion: Not all CIBs are equal. True. Also, not all EIB's are equal. I had a handful of squad leaders in my platoon who were graders, and it was an awful lot like grading a PT test. It really depends on the grader. |
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ND, USA
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Posted: 10/29/2022 12:18:04 AM EDT
[#22]
I had my EIB, never got the chance for a CIB. Would've rather had a CIB, but was still proud I earned my EIB. They sent 1/2 of Germany to play in the sand box & I had to stay & play in the mud.
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ND, USA
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Posted: 10/29/2022 12:22:16 AM EDT
[#23]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By CJ47: All depends on command. I know dudes with CIBs and CABs that were never in danger of being hurt and never been in combat. Can’t fake the EIB. Take away here is medals/ribbons/coins mean little until you understand why an individual was awarded it. Yeah, when I was in Germany there was a support guy who got an ARCOM for driving his truck in the rain. We asked our NCO's how the fuck that happens. They said if we wrote up our own awards they'd sign them & send them up. Told them that wasn't the point. I was always in HHC & made friends with guys in all the support, supply, S shops etc. & could've gotten all kinds of stuff but I didn't want that stuff handed to me. That kind of shit just diminishes the award for the guys who really did the stuff to earn it. /rant. |
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ND, USA
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Posted: 10/29/2022 12:25:45 AM EDT
[#24]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By withoutremorse42: True. Also, not all EIB's are equal. I had a handful of squad leaders in my platoon who were graders, and it was an awful lot like grading a PT test. It really depends on the grader. I don't know if it's just where my kid is, I doubt it cause he's in the 101st but I know how they do night land nav now is a lot easier than when I was in, they get a map for night land nav during EIB. He tried telling me you couldn't navigate without a map. I told him they'd gotten too spoiled by being able to use GPS so much cause it can be done & was how we had to do it back then for EIB. |
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Posted: 12/6/2022 7:34:49 AM EDT
[#25]
FPNI
Having both, I definitely worked harder for my EIB but my CIB represents a much more significant time in my life and is more coveted. |
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Posted: 12/19/2022 6:28:11 PM EDT
[#26]
The EIB says alot about a soldier, and it's certainly not a 'gimmicky' award. It does hold weight, means something and leaves a good first impression to other soldiers. It means your a higher caliber infantryman. I'm sure some EIB candidates have slipped through the cracks but for the most part you can't fake an EIB. 4x32 run, 12 mile ruck, etc etc. It's not a joke and even the dudes in my battalion that I didn't care too much for, if they got their EIB than I had to respect it.
I personally would have preferred a CIB over an EIB, but enlisting later in life - and deploying to Africa without much combat, I have neither. As a 101st 11B, I hold the CIB in higher regard - the award itself. Yes many soldiers have received a CIB when they didn't deserve it, and others never received a CIB when they certainly deserved it. It comes down to your leadership at the time. REGARDLESS, what the CIB represents, what it means - is absolutely the holy grail of the infantryman. It means more today than it did several years ago. Most CIB holders are veterans and no longer active. |
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Posted: 12/19/2022 6:58:20 PM EDT
[#27]
How do you know someone (or even you) are effective in combat if you've never been in combat?
And, I have neither. Just 4 years in the US Army (Old Guard, Honor Guard Co., 1st Plt.) |
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