Staff Sgts. Kim Min Kyoung and Kwon Min Zy are the first women, Korean or American, to earn the special-skills badge created in 1943.
"There were 21 soldiers from the (South Korean army's) 21st Infantry Division that competed with them, pushing and pulling each other, helping each other out," Kwon, 21, said through a translator.
Korean Augmentation to the U.S. Army and Republic of Korea soldiers trained and tested for the badge starting Oct. 19 at Camp Casey, South Korea. But only 94 earned the Expert Infantryman Badge on Thursday, said Command Sgt. Maj. Andrew Spano, the senior enlisted soldier for the 2nd Infantry Division.
The badge was created to recognize infantrymen who have demonstrated a mastery of critical infantry tasks, according to the Maneuver Center of Excellence's website. During the five-day testing period, infantrymen are evaluated on 30 tasks and abilities, including physical fitness, land navigation, weapons proficiency and marching.
Testing for the badge is open only to soldiers in the infantry, one of the military occupational specialties closed to women in the U.S. Army. But in South Korea, female soldiers are allowed to serve in the infantry.
The 2nd Infantry Division runs infantryman testing about once a year, usually in the fall, and every eligible American infantryman as well as those in the Korean Augmentation to the U.S. Army are invited to participate, Spano said.
In all, 21 noncommissioned officers from the 21st Infantry Division, including three women, tested for the badge, Spano said. Eighteen earned it.
The challenging test typically has an 8% to 10% pass rate, Spano said. During this year's test, the U.S. 2nd Infantry Division achieved an 18% pass rate, he said.
"It's pretty intense, and it's very difficult," he said. "Each candidate is being evaluated against a standard, and that standard is pretty tight, pretty meticulous."
In the past, soldiers in non-infantry units, including U.S. women, have participated in the testing but were not eligible to earn the badge even if they met the standards, Spano said.
"This is a really big deal," he said. "This is history in the making because no other time has a woman ever actually earned and worn the EIB. This is monumental."
And the other soldiers who tested alongside the female soldiers "didn't even blink an eye to it," Spano said.
"It doesn't matter if you're male or female, a standard is a standard," he said. "You have to pass that standard. No one gets any breaks; no one gets any deals."
The two female soldiers were almost dwarfed by their backpacks during the foot march, Spano said.
"But they were out there," he said. "They deserve it because they earned it."
Spano predicts this will be the way of the future, as the Army looks to open combat arms MOSs to female soldiers.
Kim, who has served for three years, and Kwon, who enlisted a year ago, both chose to be in the infantry, said Sgt. Jung Hoi Won, who was translating. Kim described the infantry as one of the toughest military occupational specialties in the army.
"As a female, it takes a lot of strength to train and become an expert," Kim said. "But I had many comrades beside me to help me," Kim said.
In South Korea, all male citizens serve about two years of mandatory service in the military. Women who serve do so voluntarily, and if they enlist, they are sent to school and enter the service as staff sergeants.
Female soldiers were first integrated into the South Korean army in September 1950 during the Korean War, according to information from the 2nd Infantry Division. The women were assigned to separate units, segregated from men.
In 1991, the country abolished its original policy, replacing it with a new one allowing female soldiers to serve in a variety of specialties. By July of this year, a new policy allowed female soldiers to serve in any specialty, according to the 2nd Infantry Division.
Kim and Kwon were selected along with 19 other soldiers from their division to test for the U.S. Expert Infantryman Badge after graduating from a similar test in the South Korean army, Jung said.
Kim also said the honor will help her as she resumes her duties as an infantry squad leader over both men and women.
"It means she can lead with much more expertise," Jung said on Kim's behalf. "Earning the EIB means really becoming a real soldier."
When asked what they thought about the U.S. Army's ongoing study into whether to open combat arms specialties, including infantry, to female soldiers, both Kim and Kwon were supportive.
Kim said she didn't know American women were unable to serve in the infantry until she started testing for the Expert Infantryman Badge, Jung said.
"She thinks that women are as able to do the training as the males," Jung said. "It's a personal (opinion), but she thinks there's no difference for women being able to join the infantry."
More
than 500 South Korean and U.S. soldiers started training for the U.S.
Army's Expert Infantryman Badge in mid-October, but fewer than 100 made
the grade.(Photo: Chin-U Pak, U.S. http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/10/28/women-earn-infantryman-badge/18060021/
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