What were the proposed requirements for the Scout Badge?

SPC Elijah J. Henry, MBA — Wed, 26 Oct 2022 08:20:30 -0400

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?

Response by SSG William Jones made Oct 26 at 2022 3:10 PM

SSG William Jones — Wed, 26 Oct 2022 15:10:55 -0400

Would sure be interesting to find out what those requirements were.

Response by SFC Casey O'Mally made Oct 26 at 2022 9:12 PM

SFC Casey O'Mally — Wed, 26 Oct 2022 21:12:41 -0400

Scouts get spurs. This seems like a solution looking for a problem.

Response by SSG Roger Ayscue made Oct 27 at 2022 1:11 AM

SSG Roger Ayscue — Thu, 27 Oct 2022 01:11:13 -0400

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"

Response by SPC Elijah J. Henry, MBA made Nov 9 at 2022 12:59 PM

SPC Elijah J. Henry, MBA — Wed, 09 Nov 2022 12:59:17 -0500

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."