Posted on Oct 26, 2022
SPC Elijah J. Henry, MBA
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Former United States Army Chief of Armor, Major General Thomas H. Tait is quoted in the wikipedia article on the CAB as writing, "In the January–February 1988 issue of ARMOR, Commander’s Hatch, (an editorial primarily written by Majors Scott Rowell and Bob Wilson), I stated we were developing a Scout’s “rite of passage.” The Scout Badge (SCB) proposed to be similar to the Expert Infantry Badge (EIB) and concentrated on individual scout skills. I also asked for your input. We designed the badge, similar to the EIB, except it had a saber instead of a rifle and was red and white. The requirements for the SCB were considered more difficult than those for the Combat Infantry Badge (CIB), as we did not want it to be considered, under any circumstances, to be easy. The design and requirements were sent through channels to the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) and the proposal was turned down, either by TRADOC or Department of the Army — I do not remember which because consensus could not be reached by the sitting four stars. We fought the good fight and lost, saluted, and moved on."

Does anyone have any record or recollection of the proposed requirements for the SCB?
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Responses: 4
SSG William Jones
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Would sure be interesting to find out what those requirements were.
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SSG William Jones
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SPC Elijah J. Henry, MBA
SPC Elijah J. Henry, MBA
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I am indeed interested.
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SPC Elijah J. Henry, MBA
SPC Elijah J. Henry, MBA
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SSG William Jones - someone found for me a pdf of the magazine in question, but it doesn't have any more information than this quotation does.
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SPC Elijah J. Henry, MBA
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Here is an answer I got from an AD Scout in a different forum: "So I do not know what the specific requirements were but from speaking to a few Old Head armor guys it was essentially all the EIB tasks plus Reconnaissance Specific Tasks as well…observation posts conduct, drawing map overlays for reconnaissance missions, radio use, and some more like that. It never came to fruition for many reasons but it is coming back (kind of) in the form of the Expert Soldier Badge."

SSG William Jones
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SSG Roger Ayscue
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All I know is that there are Scouts in a Long Range Surveillance Unit that on foot gather HUMINT, and 19D Cav Scouts that live by the motto "Death Before Dismount"
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SPC Elijah J. Henry, MBA
SPC Elijah J. Henry, MBA
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Scouting from noisy vehicles has never quite made sense to me.
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SSG Roger Ayscue
SSG Roger Ayscue
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SPC Elijah J. Henry, MBA - As a former member of a Long Range Surveillance Unit (LRSU) you can not scout from a Bradley or from a Drone.
You must have boots on the ground and that is done by the INFANTRY.
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