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FORT HOOD, Texas — The time on the clock read 2 hours, 59
minutes, when he rounded the corner. When he saw those glowing red
numbers, he knew he could make it.
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U.S. Army Spc Aaron Paxton (left), an infantryman assigned to
1st Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st
Cavalry Division, sprints the final leg of a 12-mile foot march to
earn the Expert Infantryman Badge. Paxton earned the badge on his
third attempt at it. Out of 827 candidates, 71 Soldiers were pinned
with shiny new Expert Infantryman Badges in a ceremony on Cooper
Field at Fort Hood, Texas, May 13, 2016. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Leah Kilpatrick)
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“I just knew I could not stop,” said Spc. Aaron Paxton,
an infantryman assigned to the 1st Battalion, 8th Cavalry
Regiment, 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry
Division. “If I would have stopped, it would have been over.
Something told me to just keep going. I saw that clock and I
thought, ‘I have it. All I've got to do is cross the line.
All I've got to do it get there.'”
Paxton, along with 69 other infantrymen from the 1st Cavalry
Division, the Texas Army National Guard and the 52nd Infantry
Regiment, stood in formation on Cooper Field with their heads a
little higher and backs a little straighter as the Expert
Infantryman Badge was pinned onto their chests.
After three exhausting weeks of training and testing, 71 came out
wearing the badge – of 827 original candidates.
“The EIB represents physical and mental toughness, exacting
competence and true grit,” said Maj. Gen. John Thomson, the First
Team commanding general. “It's a crucible that dates back to World
War II.”
 According
to the U.S. Army Maneuver Center of Excellence, the badge was
established in 1944 “to provide a drawing card for a tough and
thankless job on the battlefield – to add prestige to an otherwise
undesirable yet necessary task.”
The candidates endured long days of training on 37 individual
tasks and attempted to memorize enormous amounts of information to
be able to perform all of the tasks in sequence flawlessly. Along
with an Army Physical Fitness Test, day and night land navigation,
and a 12-mile foot march, the candidates also had to complete one
final set of tasks to earn the badge – the Objective Bull tasks.
Objective Bull is named in honor of the first EIB recipient,
Technical Sgt. Walter Bull, and it consists of tasks requiring the
remaining candidates to conduct first aid and evacuate a casualty
unaided for 50 meters.
“It's definitely tougher when you're 34 years old then when I did
it when I was 18 or 19 years old,” said Sgt. 1st Class Adam Gable,
who attempted to earn the badge once before 15 years ago.
The candidates were motivated to earn the badge for different
reasons. Some leaders went for it to set the example for their
Soldiers.
“I'm a first sergeant, so I can't expect my guys to do it, if I
don't do it,” said Gable, a first sergeant in Saber Squadron, 3rd
Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cav. Div. “It was something I had to
accomplish before I retire, whenever that is. I couldn't walk away
without getting it.”
Some troops attempted it to prove something to themselves and
validate themselves as expert professional infantrymen.+
“It was extremely challenging from beginning to end. Every day
you were there, it was sucking, and you didn't want to be there but
you knew you had to do it, because it was EIB,” Spc. Jacob Nausadis,
infantryman assigned to 1st Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd
Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cav. Div. “It's the Expert
Infantryman Badge. It's what makes an infantryman an infantryman.
Once you're able to wear that blue badge, everybody knows that you
know how to do your job. You know how to set the standard – not just
meet it, but set it.”
With a pass rate of just over 8 percent, it was clear the test
wasn't an easy one and that it called for both mental and physical
fortitude to persevere, even when Soldiers' bodies were screaming at
them to stop. The historical pass rate averages 14 percent.
And when all that was left was heart and perseverance, the
candidates dug deep and pulled strength and endurance from many
sources.
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Out of 827 candidates, 71 Soldiers were pinned with shiny new Expert
Infantryman Badges in a ceremony on Cooper Field at Fort Hood,
Texas, May 13, 2016. (Image created by USA Patriotism! from U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Leah Kilpatrick)
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My father,” said Nausadis. “He's been in the infantry for
26 years, and he got his EIB. As a child he used to tell me
all about it. He used to tell me it was the best thing you
could get when you become infantry. When I finally got the
chance to come out here and be infantry, I just thought
about what he was saying, and I thought this is something
that I can't miss out on – something that I can't quit. This
is something that I'm gonna do.”
While it seemed like the whole world slowed down, and the seconds
ticked away on the time clock, Paxton ran with all he had, and just
as he crossed the finish line at 2 hours, 59 minutes, 35 seconds, he
collapsed.
The cadres surrounded him, yelling, “Come on. Get up. You can do
it. Get up. Get up. Get up.” The exhausted Soldier rallied all the
fire he had in him to get up and move on to Objective Bull – which
he completed with a injured foot, suffered during the foot march.
“I was hurting left and right,” said Paxton, who finally earned
the badge on his third attempt. “It means a lot to cross that finish
line and just be done. It shows that I have heart, and I'm here to
show who I am and be the best. At week two, I said, ‘This is
ridiculous. I can't do this anymore.' But my wife said, ‘You only
have to do this one more time.' The drive to succeed and my wife is
what got me through this.”
By U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Leah Kilpatrick
Provided
through DVIDS
Copyright 2016
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