In conjunction with the U.S. Army’s 244th Birthday, the Army announced a new proficiency badge today, called the Expert Soldier Badge.

The ESB is designed to improve lethality, recognize excellence in Solder combat skills and increase individual, unit and overall Army readiness. The ESB is the equivalent of the Expert Infantry Badge and Expert Field Medical Badge but for all other military occupational specialties in the Army. Commanders will soon be able to use the badge to recognize Soldiers who attain excellence in physical fitness and marksmanship and a high standard of expertise in land navigation and performing warfighting tasks.

“The ESB will be an important component of increasing Soldier lethality and overall readiness to help achieve the vision for the Army of 2028,” said Sgt. Maj. of the Army Daniel A. Dailey. “The EIB and EFMB have supported the Infantry and medical fields with distinction, ensuring their Soldiers maintain critical skills, while recognizing the very best among them. The ESB will achieve the same for the rest of the Army.”

The Army will implement the ESB in early fiscal year 2020, with the standards and regulation to be finalized by September 2019. Earning the badge will test a Soldier’s proficiency in physical fitness, marksmanship, land navigation and other critical skills, and demonstrates a mastery of the art of soldiering.

The ESB training and testing will be extremely challenging, mission-focused, and conducted under realistic conditions. Those in the Infantry, Special Forces, and Medical career management fields are not eligible for the ESB.

“Like the EIB and EFMB, the ESB test will be a superb venue for individual training in units and the badge will recognize a Soldier’s mastery,” said Gen. Stephen J. Townsend, commanding general, U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command. “And it will be just as tough to earn as the EIB and EFMB because the Soldier will have to demonstrate fitness, weapons proficiency, navigation and warrior task skill at the expert level.”

Standards for the ESB are still being refined but they will not be adjusted for age, gender or any other criteria. The test will share about 80 percent of the same warrior tasks as the EIB and EFMB, and is designed so it can be administered alongside and together with them. Brigade commanders will decide if and when to schedule the test so it best fits their training schedules.

Under the ESB test process, Soldiers will demonstrate mastery of individual skills through different evaluations over a five-day period. The standards for the ESB place candidates under varying degrees of stress that test their physical and mental abilities as they execute critical tasks to an established set of standards.

To qualify to take the ESB test, Soldiers must pass the Army Combat Fitness Test (ACFT), qualify as “Expert” on the M4/M16 rifle and be recommended by their chain of command.

The test itself consists of another ACFT, day and night land navigation, individual testing stations, and culminates with a 12-mile foot march. ESB test stations include warrior tasks laid out in the ESB regulation and may also include five additional tasks selected by the brigade commander from the unit’s mission essential task list. Example tasks include:

? React to an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) Attack

? Construct Individual Fighting Positions

? Search an Individual in a Tactical Environment

? Employ Progressive Levels of Individual Force

? Mark CBRN-Contaminated Areas

“We worked tirelessly on the ESB to ensure we got it right,” said Command Sgt. Maj. Edward W. Mitchell, Center for Initial Military Training Command. “We wanted to provide commanders the opportunity to recognize their top Soldiers who have met the highest standard of performance in physical fitness, warfighting tasks and readiness.”

Each ESB task will be evaluated on a “go” or “no-go” basis. Pass rates during the ESB pilot testing were similar to that of the EIB and EFMB.

“The ESB is all about increasing the readiness of our Army. It will provide commanders outside the Infantry, Special Forces and medical communities the opportunity to recognize Soldiers who best demonstrate excellence in their fields,” said Command Sgt. Maj. Timothy A. Guden, TRADOC Command Sergeant Major.

“This is not a badge to award so that the entire Army now has an ‘expert’ badge to wear. As it is now, not every Infantryman or Special Forces Soldier earns the EIB and not every medic earns the EFMB. Keeping with the same mindset, this is a badge to award to those who truly deserve recognition as an expert in their career field; for those who have achieved a high level of competence and excellence in their profession.”

By U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command Public Affairs

FORT BRAGG, N.C. — Soldiers who believe they have what it takes to join one of the six Security Force Assistance Brigades (SFABs) must first pass the 3-day Security Force Assistance Command Assessment and Selection Course that’s designed to ensure they meet the standards of a SFAB Advisor.

Assessment and Selection Course candidates undergo a process designed to test their mental, physical and teamwork skills to ensure they possess the attributes that the SFAB teams are looking for in an Advisor.

Some of these attributes include discipline, sound judgment, moral conduct, and the ability to remain calm and collected while seizing the initiative during mission uncertainty.

“What we are looking for is someone who is physically fit, works well in a team, who is intelligent, and comfortable making decisions while operating with a certain level of ambiguity,” said Sgt. Maj. Robert George, SFAC Assessment and Selection Sergeant Major.

The assessment process is something new candidates are curious about once they decide to join the SFABs.

“I heard about the SFABs while I was deployed in Afghanistan and when I came back some senior NCOs I worked with had joined and let us know more about them,” said Sgt. Skyler Lewis, SFAC Assessment Candidate and Signal Support Systems Specialist from 1st Battalion, 41st Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division. “I looked more into it and then decided that, yes, this is for me.”

The assessment process starts with in-processing on day zero and then moves onto day one. Day one starts the non-stop process that lasts through day two. It begins with the candidates conducting an APFT, team events, a leader reaction course, a warrior skills test, MOS proficiency and ethical dilemma tests, peer evaluations, a subject matter expert interview, and culminates with a challenging foot march.

“They briefed us on what it was going to be like when we got here and it was a little different than I thought it would be and a lot harder – but it was worth it – I thought it was a good process and I had to stay focused and push hard through some of the events,” said Lewis.

The final portion of the assessment process is the selection board on day three, after which, the candidates find out how they did and if they were selected. If selected, they receive information about the reporting process and continue their SFAB Advisor training there.

The opportunity to continue to training, mentoring and advising others is one of the reasons Fort Benning Drill Sergeant Joshua Tobin felt he needed to go through the assessment course and become a SFAB Advisor.

“I have been training and mentoring Soldiers for the past 12 years and really getting more into it with the new privates at Fort Benning for the last 33 months. I feel that this opportunity is the same, but bigger, you are still training, mentoring, and advising, but this time it’s with our partners,” said Staff Sgt. Joshua Tobin, SFAC Assessment Candidate with 2nd Squadron, 15th Cavalry Regiment, 194th Armored Brigade.

The assessment and selection process is still relatively new and constantly adapts to the current needs of the SFABs and will continue to change and facilitate any of their future needs.

“How we assess the Soldiers has changed since I got here almost a year ago. We have changed and added events that better identify the attributes that make a good Military Advisor,” said George. “We will continue to change things to better identify candidates who will make the best military Advisors.”

The SFAB Recruiting and Retention Team continues to look for Soldiers who are interested in becoming SFAB Advisors in one of the five active-duty and one Army National Guard SFABs. For more information and details about joining, visit the SFAB Recruiting and Retention Team website at www.goarmy.com/sfab or contact them at one of the following: Officers (910) 570-5159 and Enlisted (910) 570-9975/5131 or email them at usarmy.bragg.forscom.mbx.g1-ag-sfab@mail.mil.

By SFC Mark Albright, Security Force Assistance Command