Expert Action Badge (EAB)
The purpose of this paper is to introduce the proposed new badge, the Expert Action Badge (EAB). The badge expected to test Soldiers proficiency physically and mentally in their Warrior Tasks and Battle Drills (WTBD). The Army has the Expert Infantry Badge (EIB) for the infantry and the Expert Field Medical Badge (EFMB) for the medics. The Army wanted to create another award for the majority of the Soldiers who are not eligible for the EIB or the EFMB. This research will talk about the EAB requirements, qualifications and how the Soldiers will benefit from it. It will illustrate the comparison of qualification and requirements between the EIB, the EFMB and the EAB award. Right now, the proposed EAB is still in the talks, process and still
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a concept-base. The Chief of Staff and the Secretary of the Army has not approved the proposed award yet. When approved, we will see the EAB by October 2019.
Expert Action Badge (EAB) The United States Army proposed EAB as the new special skills badge (See Appendix A for the proposed badge design). Command Sergeant Major (CSM) David Davenport the top enlisted Soldier at the Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) brought it to the public on March 24, 2017. After the proposed badge came out to the public a large number discussion, disagreements and arguments have already risen. This award truly caught the attention and interest amongst service members. Some have agreed and some have disagreed. They all have their own opinions and stand. The EAB being developed to address the majority of the Army who are not eligible for the Expert Infantry Badge (EIB) and the Expert Field Medical Badge (EFMB) That explains that the rest of the Soldier who are not in the infantry for the EIB and who don’t belong to the medical field which the EFMB are the one that can qualify and fall into the EAB award. The Army wants to test their skills in general to motivate and train the rest of the Soldiers and to continue to be competent in their skills and in their field of expertise. The EAB concept is to encourage the Soldiers to always be competitive mentally and physically so does the infantry and the medics. According to the Sergeant Major of the Army (SMA) Dan Dailey, as published in the Army Times . The EAB would test Soldier skills. It offers testing and is a worthy way to incentivize Soldiers and units to train and remain proficient and he wanted to build individual skills” (Myers, 2017).” CSM Michael Gragg said, “Right now we are a concept of evaluation going on in Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM)”. We have a concept to validate the reason behind it, our force, our Soldier are not necessarily proficient in their warrior task and battle drills, right now Soldiers Creed we start saying, “I am disciplined, physically and mentally tough, train and proficient in my warrior task and drills”. All I am asking you to do is to show it, that’s all it is; you validate your ability as an individual to be proficient in your orientation or battle drills. What we do not have is something for the other 75 percent of the Soldier who are out there to validate their proficiency in their basic Soldier skills. Therefore, what we want to do is to offer them the opportunity to validate their basic Soldier skills to a professional level (Gragg, 2017). The majority of the Army challenged to step up and show their skills physically and mentally. The EAB will inspire the Soldier to perform an outstanding accomplishment, in their field. The Army gives the Soldier the chance to improve and augment their skills and motivation to work at their best and qualify to earn the badge. Like infantry and the medics Soldier. The Army wants to improve and increase the quality of being prepared of improving individual competence, knowledge, and skill in their particular fields.
For more information on the comparison chart of the EAB concept to the EIB and the EFMB to clarify the difficulty of level associated with completing the EAB (See Appendix B for comparison chart).
Some were interested in the opportunity to test their skills in garrison, while others like Robb Lundberg commented on this would be a legitimately just be a participation trophy (Myers, 2017). On the other point during the TRADOC Fourth State of Noncommissioned (NCO) Development Town Hall 4, CSM Gragg said, “It’s not a participation trophy” (Koester, 2017).
When you participate, it does not mean you are going to receive the award; you are just sharing or taking your part in obtaining an award.
Participation is not an assurance of the EAB award. A good example of this situation is the Army’s Honors program. All students will go through the same course but will be competing to for Distinguished Honor graduate. For this reason, even though the students learned the same materials, not all students will meet the standards and qualification for honors such as having a 95 percent grade point average not having negative counseling and having a first time go on all tasks required are a few examples. The Army EAB requirements include the 12-mile ruck march with 35-pound load under three hours. 80 percent in physical fitness test in each event, capable of locating 3 out of 4 land navigation within two hours and receiving first time go on Warrior Tasks and Battle Drills (WTBD) the Brigade Commander will also choose 5 of 30 Mission Essential Task List (METL). The Brigade will organize the EAB qualification. The participating unit will have two weeks to prepare their Soldiers going through the …show more content…
event. The EAB, EIB and the EFMB no matter what award you acquired, all these awards represent motivation, dedication, professionalism and a great pride of an accomplishment.
Conclusion
The EAB, EIB, and the EFMB are the awards given to the military that exceeded and successfully pass all the requirements.
These awards show excellence in military and motivate them to be a proficient and put them in a high level of service. The award helps Soldiers to create a goal in their life, look up to it as our motivation and opportunity of growth, improvement, and excellence professionally. Like what Jeremy Adams said, “We are all in the same team” (Myers, 2017). To fully see if this EAB will benefit the Soldier physically and mentally in their WTBD a future study may rise. Several concerns that may rise are injury to Soldiers participating in the event. Since, the Soldiers are not conducting all the tasks required to qualify for a badge in their daily activity like the infantry and the medics. Will the two weeks preparation for a Soldier to participate in this event be enough not to endure any injury and be
successful? References
Davenport, D. (2017, April 10). TRADOC State of the NCO Development Town Hall 4. Retrieved February 10, 2018, from Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvF3_3BdDTc
Gragg, M. (2017, April 10). TRADOC State of the NCO Development Town Hall 4. Retrieved February 10, 2018, from Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvF3_3BdDTc
Koester, J. (. (2017, May 15). Retrieved February 10, 2018, from TRADOC News Center: http://tradocnews.org/tag/expert-action-badge/
Myers, M. (2017, April 02). Retrieved February 10, 2018, from Army Times: https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-army/2017/04/02/inside-the-army-s-plan-for-the-new-expert-action-badge/
a concept-base. The Chief of Staff and the Secretary of the Army has not approved the proposed award yet. When approved, we will see the EAB by October 2019.
Expert Action Badge (EAB) The United States Army proposed EAB as the new special skills badge (See Appendix A for the proposed badge design). Command Sergeant Major (CSM) David Davenport the top enlisted Soldier at the Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) brought it to the public on March 24, 2017. After the proposed badge came out to the public a large number discussion, disagreements and arguments have already risen. This award truly caught the attention and interest amongst service members. Some have agreed and some have disagreed. They all have their own opinions and stand. The EAB being developed to address the majority of the Army who are not eligible for the Expert Infantry Badge (EIB) and the Expert Field Medical Badge (EFMB) That explains that the rest of the Soldier who are not in the infantry for the EIB and who don’t belong to the medical field which the EFMB are the one that can qualify and fall into the EAB award. The Army wants to test their skills in general to motivate and train the rest of the Soldiers and to continue to be competent in their skills and in their field of expertise. The EAB concept is to encourage the Soldiers to always be competitive mentally and physically so does the infantry and the medics. According to the Sergeant Major of the Army (SMA) Dan Dailey, as published in the Army Times . The EAB would test Soldier skills. It offers testing and is a worthy way to incentivize Soldiers and units to train and remain proficient and he wanted to build individual skills” (Myers, 2017).” CSM Michael Gragg said, “Right now we are a concept of evaluation going on in Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM)”. We have a concept to validate the reason behind it, our force, our Soldier are not necessarily proficient in their warrior task and battle drills, right now Soldiers Creed we start saying, “I am disciplined, physically and mentally tough, train and proficient in my warrior task and drills”. All I am asking you to do is to show it, that’s all it is; you validate your ability as an individual to be proficient in your orientation or battle drills. What we do not have is something for the other 75 percent of the Soldier who are out there to validate their proficiency in their basic Soldier skills. Therefore, what we want to do is to offer them the opportunity to validate their basic Soldier skills to a professional level (Gragg, 2017). The majority of the Army challenged to step up and show their skills physically and mentally. The EAB will inspire the Soldier to perform an outstanding accomplishment, in their field. The Army gives the Soldier the chance to improve and augment their skills and motivation to work at their best and qualify to earn the badge. Like infantry and the medics Soldier. The Army wants to improve and increase the quality of being prepared of improving individual competence, knowledge, and skill in their particular fields.
For more information on the comparison chart of the EAB concept to the EIB and the EFMB to clarify the difficulty of level associated with completing the EAB (See Appendix B for comparison chart).
Some were interested in the opportunity to test their skills in garrison, while others like Robb Lundberg commented on this would be a legitimately just be a participation trophy (Myers, 2017). On the other point during the TRADOC Fourth State of Noncommissioned (NCO) Development Town Hall 4, CSM Gragg said, “It’s not a participation trophy” (Koester, 2017).
When you participate, it does not mean you are going to receive the award; you are just sharing or taking your part in obtaining an award.
Participation is not an assurance of the EAB award. A good example of this situation is the Army’s Honors program. All students will go through the same course but will be competing to for Distinguished Honor graduate. For this reason, even though the students learned the same materials, not all students will meet the standards and qualification for honors such as having a 95 percent grade point average not having negative counseling and having a first time go on all tasks required are a few examples. The Army EAB requirements include the 12-mile ruck march with 35-pound load under three hours. 80 percent in physical fitness test in each event, capable of locating 3 out of 4 land navigation within two hours and receiving first time go on Warrior Tasks and Battle Drills (WTBD) the Brigade Commander will also choose 5 of 30 Mission Essential Task List (METL). The Brigade will organize the EAB qualification. The participating unit will have two weeks to prepare their Soldiers going through the …show more content…
event. The EAB, EIB and the EFMB no matter what award you acquired, all these awards represent motivation, dedication, professionalism and a great pride of an accomplishment.
Conclusion
The EAB, EIB, and the EFMB are the awards given to the military that exceeded and successfully pass all the requirements.
These awards show excellence in military and motivate them to be a proficient and put them in a high level of service. The award helps Soldiers to create a goal in their life, look up to it as our motivation and opportunity of growth, improvement, and excellence professionally. Like what Jeremy Adams said, “We are all in the same team” (Myers, 2017). To fully see if this EAB will benefit the Soldier physically and mentally in their WTBD a future study may rise. Several concerns that may rise are injury to Soldiers participating in the event. Since, the Soldiers are not conducting all the tasks required to qualify for a badge in their daily activity like the infantry and the medics. Will the two weeks preparation for a Soldier to participate in this event be enough not to endure any injury and be
successful? References
Davenport, D. (2017, April 10). TRADOC State of the NCO Development Town Hall 4. Retrieved February 10, 2018, from Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvF3_3BdDTc
Gragg, M. (2017, April 10). TRADOC State of the NCO Development Town Hall 4. Retrieved February 10, 2018, from Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvF3_3BdDTc
Koester, J. (. (2017, May 15). Retrieved February 10, 2018, from TRADOC News Center: http://tradocnews.org/tag/expert-action-badge/
Myers, M. (2017, April 02). Retrieved February 10, 2018, from Army Times: https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-army/2017/04/02/inside-the-army-s-plan-for-the-new-expert-action-badge/