Marksmanship badges

Mudge · **Posted:** Wed May 01, 2013 11:10 am

Do Army officers wear marksmanship badges?

Mudge the precise

mike furline · **Joined:** Wed May 05, 2004 3:45 pm **Posts:** 2628

If they're a good shot they do. :wink:

There's a discussion about it here,
http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/ ... ip-badges/

Mudge · **Posted:** Wed May 01, 2013 12:31 pm

Thanks for the link. I have to agree with the posters there. I've never seem an officer wearing them.

Mudge the educable :wink:

tom d. friedman · **Posted:** Thu May 02, 2013 8:21 am

I have my dad's army qualification medals from wwII basic training from mortar, grenade, machine gun etc. he retired as an infantry major, & come to think of it I can't recall a single old picture with him wearing those in his class "A" uniform. I think the marines have some kind of medal less all the in length detail that symbolizes all of these accomplishments.

Junkyard36 · **Posted:** Thu May 02, 2013 3:44 pm

Hey Mudge -

I'm a former Army Captain and as of 2004, Army Officers do not wear marksmanship badges on any uniform. All are still expected to still qualify with their weapons the troops, but are never awarded marksmanship badges for it.

Basic marksmanship is considered one of the basic qualifications that need to be met year in, year out in order to continue to serve. These qualifications are height / weight, physical fitness test, timed 12 mile road march (only for certain units), and marksmanship. Failure in any of these may be a chapterable offense and would hold back (flag) an officer from promotion and awards. Any failure would last until either corrected or the officer leaves the service.

Hope this helps!

Mike

Mudge · **Posted:** Thu May 02, 2013 4:00 pm

Thanks all. I always told you I could still learn even at my advanced age.

Mudge the geezer :drink3:

The Inspector · **Posted:** Thu May 02, 2013 4:05 pm

Mudge wrote:

Thanks all. I always told you I could still learn even at my advanced age.

Mudge the geezer :drink3:

Continue learning, including technique used when they're shovelling dirt on you!

muddyboots · **Posted:** Fri May 03, 2013 9:08 am

Junkyard36 wrote:

Hey Mudge -

I'm a former Army Captain and as of 2004, Army Officers do not wear marksmanship badges on any uniform. All are still expected to still qualify with their weapons the troops, but are never awarded marksmanship badges for it.

Basic marksmanship is considered one of the basic qualifications that need to be met year in, year out in order to continue to serve. These qualifications are height / weight, physical fitness test, timed 12 mile road march (only for certain units), and marksmanship. Failure in any of these may be a chapterable offense and would hold back (flag) an officer from promotion and awards. Any failure would last until either corrected or the officer leaves the service.

Hope this helps!

Mike

Hey Mike, I know you guys don't wear em, but what is the reg on it? 670-1 maybe? I know you're rquired to qualify for it, but I never could find anything that says you don't wear em.

Junkyard36 · **Posted:** Fri May 03, 2013 2:58 pm

Clay -

You know, that's a good question. I think it must be buried somewhere in 670-1, but I never went and looked it up. It was drummed into our heads both in ROTC as well as Officer Basic Course (mine was Field Artillery) that we never wore them.

Those of us who were expert would look at out Marine contemporaries also going through the same course with a little bit of envy - at least they got a bit of shiny metal for their efforts.

Now you've got my curiosity peaked, let me do some poking around and se what I can dig up!

Mike

Junkyard36 · **Posted:** Sun May 05, 2013 12:37 pm

So I've looked a couple of different places and from what I can tell, Army officers are technically authorized to wear qualification badges, but it is frowned upon by the officer corps.

Interestingly enough, I also found that there are other enlisted uniform items that are gray areas in applicability to officer uniforms:

Good to Go:
Good Conduct Medals
Professional Development Ribbons

Gray Areas - Technically OK per AR670-1, but frowned upon
Qualification Badges (Marksmanship, Driver & Mechanic)
Drill Sergeant Badge
Recruiter Badge
Career Counselor Badge

No Go
Hash Marks

Interesting stuff!

Mike

muddyboots · **Posted:** Sun May 05, 2013 6:42 pm

I always thought it was "rool of cool" but I was never sure! I wonder where that started? I nevr wanted to wear my stuff either. I awlays though tit looked stupid next to real awards. I sort of wish they would cull the ribbons a bit, old generals with seven rows of ribbons marching up their chest looks ridiculous.

p51 · **Posted:** Tue May 14, 2013 3:17 pm

Mike is dead-on. We never wore hash marks or marksman medals. I'm a former Army CPT as well, left active duty in 2001 and the reserves in 2006.
The regs (and official photos showing officer uniforms) say officers can wear marksman medals. But the only officer I ever saw wear one was a National Guard REMF-type Major at an awards ceremony for my ROTC unit (I have a photo of me with him, as I'm the one he made the presentation to) in 1998. All us cadets wore them, though.
It irritated me that I had to put them away once I stopped being a cadet, as I always shot expert with my M-16A2 (not all Army officers carried sidearms!) but I never got to wear my award for it. I qualified for rifle, grenade and AT weapon tabs on active duty, most of my soldiers didn't have more that one tab on theirs. I kept my stay-bright expert medal with rifle tab in a box with my awards and challenge coins.
Also, there was some kind of unwritten thing about never wearing foreign jumpwings you're been awarded when you never had the US jump wings. I never could find anyone who could prove it, though... It was also annoying to me as I had two foreign wings and was told emphatically that I was NOT to wear them as I didn't have the US wings as well (I was in mech units the entire time and never in a unit that ever had jump school slots other than for re-enlistment incentives).
My nephew is a ROTC cadet right now at the same program I went through at Florida State, and he was a little bummed when I told him he'd have to put away his marksman medal when he pinned on the gold bar of obedience...

Red Baaron · **Joined:** Wed Aug 29, 2012 3:54 pm **Posts:** 98

p51 wrote:

Also, there was some kind of unwritten thing about never wearing foreign jumpwings you're been awarded when you never had the US jump wings. I never could find anyone who could prove it, though... It was also annoying to me as I had two foreign wings and was told emphatically that I was NOT to wear them as I didn't have the US wings as well (I was in mech units the entire time and never in a unit that ever had jump school slots other than for re-enlistment incentives).

Okay, I would like to hear how you were awarded two sets of foreign jump wings when you never went to jump school with the Army?

p51 · **Posted:** Tue May 14, 2013 3:57 pm

Red Baaron wrote:

Okay, I would like to hear how you were awarded two sets of foreign jump wings when you never went to jump school with the Army?

Went through two other nations' jump schools (one was when i was with the DoD before I went into the Army), just in the right place at the right time and neither of them were very long (or nearly as formal as the US one). It was jump training at the starter level, so neither cared what training you'd had before as everyone started from a '0' knowledge base. It was actually more common than you'd think, I was with some Marines who didn't have US wings either in one case...

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