The Army introduced the Master Combat Infantryman Badge earlier this year to recognize some of its most accomplished and dedicated soldiers.
Last week, it went to an Air Force recipient.
Senior Master Sgt. Greg Cleghorn, a security forces supervisor in the Iowa Air National Guard, was awarded the Army’s MCIB on Aug 18. Cleghorn is the first Iowa air guardsman to receive the award. Air Force troops can only qualify for the badge through previous service in the Army.
The Master Combat Infantryman Badge itself is new in the Army but its heritage is not. The Army introduced the award in May to recognize soldiers who had earned two other highly regarded decorations, the Expert Infantryman Badge and the Combat Infantryman Badge. Cleghorn earned both as a soldier in the Army before joining the Air National Guard, making him eligble to wear the MCIB.
“It’s still an individual award at this point, but I’m proud to wear it and to represent the Iowa Guard,” Cleghorn said in a release from the 132nd Wing. “When I go someplace, it will be unique and draw attention to the state of Iowa while I am wearing Iowa Guard patches.”
Cleghorn enlisted in the Army in 1998 and earned the EIB in 2000 while with the 4th Infantry Regiment in Hohenfels, Germany, according to the Air Force release.
He later joined the Iowa Army National Guard’s 194th Long Range Surveillance Detachment, where he earned the CIB in Iraq in 2004.
One badge for two esteemed awards
In May, the Army introduced the MCIB to close a loophole in Army uniform regulations that made it impossible for soldiers who had earned both the EIB and CIB to wear them together. Because the CIB and EIB are held in high esteem in the Army, they are worn on the same spot on Army uniforms: at the top of the left breast pocket, above all other awards.
The Combat Infantryman Badge is sometimes called the most prestigious award in the Army. It is awarded only to infantry soldiers and a handful of others in direct-action roles like Special Forces who have “engaged in active ground combat” while “personally present and under hostile fire,” according to Army regulation.
The EIB is the top skill badge for infantry soldiers and is awarded to those who pass a long series of infantry-specific field tests. Over a multi-day course, soldiers must pass tests on marksmanship and weapons use, land navigation, medical problems, and a 12-mile ruck march to earned the EIB.
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But since the two awards occupy the same spot on a uniform, Army regulations have long mandated that soldiers who earn both can only wear one.
The MCIB, then, was authorized this year as a sort of ‘one badge to rule them all’ for soldiers who had earned both to wear on the top spot of their uniforms. The MCIB has the same blue rectangle and engraved musket that make up the other two awards, but is ringed in gold oak leaves, distinctive from the silver leaves of the CIB (for non-infantry soldiers with direct combat service, the Army awards the Combat Action Badge and the Combat Medical Badge and equivalent Expert and Master versions).
The CIB can’t be earned in the Air Force – even for direct combat — but once awarded, it can be worn if a soldier moves over to the Air Force or Air National Guard.
That doesn’t apply, however, for soldiers who go on to join the Navy or Marines, though a CIB-recipient joining one of the maritime service can apply to instead wear their new service’s Combat Action Ribbon.
