Army Combat Medic Badge Patch

The Combat Medical Badge dates to January 1945, and it was made retroactive to the first days of World War II so that the medics who went forward with the infantry would have a badge of their own. The rule behind it has stayed narrow ever since. A soldier of the Army Medical Department, colonel or below, has to be assigned or attached to a ground combat arms unit of brigade size or smaller. That unit has to be in ground combat, and the medic has to be doing his medical job while being engaged by the enemy. Doc earned it where the riflemen earned theirs.

The World War II qualifying period runs from December 7, 1941, to September 3, 1945, and the Korean War period from June 27, 1950, to July 27, 1953. A 1951 change ended the one-award limit, and later awards are shown with stars, while a 1969 directive held the Vietnam era to a single award for service from March 2, 1961, to March 28, 1973. Medics on the Korean DMZ between 1969 and 1994 qualified too. Aviation medics became eligible in 2005, and in 2008 IED and VBIED attacks were recognized as direct contact with the enemy for Iraq and Afghanistan. In 2025 the Army added the Master Combat Medical Badge with gold wreaths, for soldiers who hold both the CMB and an expert badge.

This version is worked in grays and charcoal that read like the oxidized silver of the metal badge. A Greek cross sits at the center, with a winged caduceus, the staff and twin snakes of Army medicine, running through it. Behind them lies a stretcher, the litter every medic has carried, set level across the badge. An elliptical oak wreath wraps the whole design, the same kind of wreath that frames the Combat Infantryman Badge. It measures 4.5 by 3 inches with a cut edge that follows the outline of the wreath.

In 1947 the Army allowed a retroactive Bronze Star for World War II holders of the badge, a recognition of what those men had been through. Only two soldiers, Henry Jenkins and Wayne Slagel, are recorded as wearing the CMB with two stars. Since June 2011 the badge and its sew-on version have been authorized on the Army Combat Uniform. Every infantry company that has gone into a fight has had a medic in it, and the men in that company know his name long after they forget the rest.

With an iron-on backing it goes onto a jacket, vest or aid bag, and it holds a shadow box well alongside the Purple Heart or Bronze Star of the medic who earned it. It is also a fitting gift for a combat medic, a 68W in training, or the family of a Doc who brought someone home. One badge, and everybody in the platoon knows what it cost to earn.