FORT STEWART, GA (WTOC) -
The woods of Fort Stewart rang out with gunfire as Fourth Brigade soldiers took aim, not at an enemy, but one of the Army's most elite honors. Specialist Jacob Hollingsworth went back and forth between weapons in an exercise that tests patrol skills. He and others hope to earn the Expert Infantryman Badge, or EIB.
"It comes around only once every training cycle and it's something you really need to progress in your career in the Army," Hollingsworth noted.
Soldiers went through a series of drills, just like what they'd face in combat, such as capturing an enemy and tending to wounded. But in this case, there's an evaluator looking for any mistake and the standards are high.
"To put it in perspective, we started with 600 plus candidates yesterday. We resumed today with 199" explained Staff Sergeant Shane Grinder, one of the evaluators and an EIB holder. "So it's definitely a challenge."
The Army created the badge in 1943, but many of the drills now reflect the skills of modern mobile warfare. It includes a difficult physical fitness test and an exhausting pace for the skill evaluations.
"It gets your heart rate going and allows the candidates to do what they do under pressure so it definitely prepares you for combat.
"Having it shows you are different from your peers who don't have it. It's really hard to get," Hollingsworth added.
This week marks the first time 4th Brigade has been home from deployments long enough to test for EIB since 2009.
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