-
Legacy Member
In the old Army the Expert Infantryman Badge was just about as tough as it got.
Passing that Bayonet Course was the killer. We ran 440 guys through it and NOBODY passed. I got everything right and on time, but the Sergeant said I "Didn't yell loud enough". Yell?, I was so tired I couldn't talk. It was just, if the Sergeant had a woodie that day, nobody passed.
In 1966 any Army personnel regardless of MOS could get a CIB, by participating on X number of patrols that came under fire. Several of our Signal guys went out on patrols with the 5th SF people as their jungle school was next to our camp, or went out with Infantry people in our detachments which were all over the II Corps highlands, Pleiku, Kontum, An Khe, Bong Son, Plei Me etc. It was an "On the side deal" and some got it, some didn't. I think it was under fire for 4 days or something like that. About halfway through my tour (5-66-5-67) it was stopped. Probably by all the ****ed off vets who saw the 82 AB get CIBs for doing riot duty in the Dominican Republic. You had to admit, that was a stretch. Some of our guys were shot on their little adventures.
-
-
09-13-2010 06:26 PM
# ADS
Friends and Sponsors