This is an award which is well deserved and long overdue. This badge recognizes soldiers who are not Infantry who have been stationed in a danger area who have come under fire from enemy forces. This badge was authorized in May 2005. Until then the only soldiers who could be recognized for performing actual combat duties were infantrymen. There are many support soldiers who sometimes come under fire in the performance of their duties such as engineers, forward observers, mechanics, and military police.

The changing nature of modern warfare has dictated that an award of some kind be given to these soldiers. It used to be that friendly and enemy lines were firmly established and delineated in combat. During Operation Iraqi Freedom we began to see the blurring of these boundaries and support soldiers began to engage in firefights with enemy soldiers. In this instance I am talking about transportation personnel who had to deliver supplies and equipment to the rear areas of the battlefield. There has always been instances where engineers, MP's, and artillerymen would come under fire.

The infantryman certainly deserves to be awarded the Combat Infantry Badge, but the Combat Action Badge is also a well deserved award. We are working on this design for our custom military rings and hope to add it real soon. We are expecting this design to really do well since it is a new design.