Armed Forces Combat Action Badge Patch

The Combat Action Badge goes to soldiers who personally engaged the enemy, or were engaged by it, whatever their job. The Chief of Staff of the Army approved it on May 2, 2005, and made it retroactive to September 18, 2001. Before then, the Combat Infantryman Badge and Combat Medical Badge covered infantrymen and medics under fire, and a truck driver ambushed on a supply route had nothing to show for it. The CAB closed that gap. It goes to soldiers of any branch or MOS who are not eligible for the CIB or CMB.

General Peter J. Schoomaker presented the first five on June 29, 2005, each to a sergeant. The badge came out of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom, where convoys, patrols and forward operating bases drew contact no matter what MOS was there. The criteria require a soldier to be present and actively engaging or being engaged by the enemy, and only one award is allowed per qualifying period. The Army can also award it to members of other services and to allied soldiers assigned to Army units, KATUSA soldiers among them. It ranks just below the Combat Medical Badge and above the Expert Infantryman Badge.

This patch measures 4.9 inches wide by 2.62 inches tall, cut to the outline of the badge. It is stitched entirely in gray, a subdued look rather than the silver of the metal badge. An oak wreath curves underneath and rises in two leafy tips above a long rectangle. On the rectangle an M9 bayonet lies over an M67 grenade, the blade pointing left and the round grenade body hanging below the cross guard. The back is iron-on.

The CAB says less about a soldier's MOS than about what happened on a particular day. It is worn by cooks, mechanics, signal soldiers, military police, engineers and truck drivers. Every one of them was there when the contact came, on a convoy route, on patrol or on a base under attack. For a support soldier, it is the badge that puts that day on the uniform. Many wear it next to the unit patch of the outfit they deployed with.

It fits a shadow box with a unit patch and a deployment photo, or a ruck, range bag or jacket. It is also a good gift for a spouse, son or daughter whose soldier came home with one. Iron it on or stitch it down. Bayonet, grenade and oak, in gray.