Should there be conversion of 19D MOS back to 11D?

Back when I had a Armored Cavalry platoon we had 2 scout squads (11D), 2 Sheridans (11E), 1 Infantry squad (11B) and a 4.2 Mortar squad (11C). It was the smallest combined arms team in the Army

Sp4 Byron Skinner…The straight answer to this question is NO, the reason is the CIB is the Infantry. In 1967 the requirements for the CIB were laid down, a soldier had to have been awarded 11B MOS through completing Infantry AIT, 30 days of Combat or getting a combat wound. The Enlisted ranks eligible were E-1-E-6. I understand now E-7 and E-8 can be awarded the CIB. The 11D's of my era have made the augment that they sometimes pulled Infantry missions, while true it was always the exception. The only time I can remember 11D's going on an Infantry mission was when the Rifle Squad was short men due to combat wounds or KIA's…When the Platoon Leader called over the horn "Dismounts to two six" he meant the 11B's…Being an 11B is the crappiest job in the Army. In garrison you are always the ones who gets the shit details and were always last in line for passes, but first in line for weekend guard duty, weekend CQ or KP…In Combat the 11B is the one in font of the tip of the spear and the first to make contact and enviably the first to take casualties. The CIB was created to recognize that sacrifice that is only asked of the Infantry…The Combat Action badge was created for those who are less the Infantry.

It really doesn't matter to the scouts which career field they are in, though that was the actual reasoning behind moving them to armor. If you go back far enough you will find that even tankers were 11E at one point. Tactics are driven by terrain, available weapons systems, and the enemy you are facing. But the actual job of serving as a scout doesn't really change all that much. Scouts for a light infantry Bn or Cavalry Squadron screening a Division, you keep doing the same mission. And in case you are curious, they didn't fit in with the infantry any better than they do with the tankers.

I dont Know what scouts you guys have been talking too, but as for me and bwing a former scout all we did was infantry work. We just had fewer men. Oh and by the way there is a reason the cav is always at the front of a battalion run. We are the first in.

I served with 11th ACR in Vietnam and held the mos of 11D. I think 19D should be changed back to 11D. As 11D40 we did everything 11B does plus act as scouts, pulled security for convoys, set up night and auto mic ambushes. As such I was awarded a CIB which a 19D is not allowed to receive.

Never been a part of a cav unit, so i thought cav brought strykers? And their roots is armour isnt it? They would lose all their heritage.

Heavy Mortars are definitely Artillery, New ones shoot as fart and have the punch of what was light Artillery. 13F and 19D are similar but identical

Infantryman or more politically correct, Infantry persons like to talk shit about cav and then try to get into "recon platoon". The fact is this conversation is a waste of time. A better conversation is why are 19ds taking over the MGS strikers.

Speaking as an 11B who served at JRTC as OPFOR with the 1/509th at Fort Chaffee, AR during the early years; I feel that 11B and 19D are very similar. The BN was a combination of both MOSes and we worked quite well together. In my assignment in the SCOUT PLT as a TM LDR I was filling a 19D slot as a 11B and we had no problems in our mixed 11B and 19D PLT.

I never understood the reasons for creating MOS 19... in the first place. I was an 11E from 60-67 and then became a 11B40, a 11D40 and again a 11E4H. I liked the idea of all the Real Combat Arms, sorry Artillery, sharing the same MOS and have never agreed with the change.