All I Want for Christmas is my Expert Infantry Badge

All I Want for Christmas is my Expert Infantry Badge

Reported By RET Q.Morton January 10, 2020

Spc. Levi Garner, from the 3rd Battalion, 69th Armored Regiment, 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, ensures his M4 carbine is cleared before disassembling it during Expert Infantry Badge (EIB) testing at Hunter Army Air Field, Ga., Dec. 20. The Soldiers who participated in the event did so to earn the coveted EIB. The event consisted of seven days of skill level one task training, followed by five days of rigorous testing on those tasks. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Daniel Guerrero)

All I Want for Christmas is my Expert Infantry Badge

Fifty-three Soldiers from the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, earned their Expert Infantry Badge, Dec. 20. The 12-day event was simultaneously conducted at Hunter Army Air Field by personnel of the 1st Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, and at Fort Stewart, Ga. by personnel assigned to the 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team.

Out of all the participants from the Raider Brigade, over 65 percent earned the coveted EIB, further cementing the brigade’s motto, Raiders First!

“It makes me proud to be part of the Raider Brigade,” said Command Sgt. Maj. Jonathan Reffeor, 1ABCT’s command sergeant major. “It’s a great accomplishment and they should all be so proud of themselves. They came out and represented the Brigade honorably.”

To earn the EIB, the Soldiers went through a seven-day train-up, where they became proficient in all of the 30 tasks on which they were to be tested. These tasks included, things like the EIB Physical Fitness Assessment, land navigation, weapons lanes, among many others. After this train-up, they went through five days of rigorous testing on those tasks. The culminating event was a grueling 12-mile ruck march which they had to complete in three hours or less.

“The hardest part for me was remembering the steps and sequences on some of the tasks, but I kept doing repetitions after repetitions in addition to the help from my buddies,” said SPC. Blaine Logsdon, a recent EIB recipient from the 3^rd Battalion, 69^th Armored Regiment, 1ABCT. “This accomplishment makes me feel great and I am really proud to be a part of something more than myself.”

Ultimately, the EIB tasks are skill level one tasks that build lethality and confidence within infantry formations. These 53 Raider Soldiers can now take the knowledge and confidence they have gained, and train other Soldiers in their units to achieve this incredible goal.