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If you were in the Army...


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... and earned the Combat Infantryman's Badge, were discharged, then joined the Air Force, can you wear the CIB? Or for that matter, any other branch-specific decoration?

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One of my former company mates was a CW2 who flew Apaches in West Germany and Desert Storm.  He branch transferred to the Air Force, earned his commission, and flew MH-53s the rest of his career.

 

On a daily basis he stuck to the velcro Air Force wings on his flight suit, but on his dress uniform he added his shiny Army Senior Aviator badge.

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15 hours ago, Three Foot Johnson said:

... and earned the Combat Infantryman's Badge, were discharged, then joined the Air Force, can you wear the CIB? Or for that matter, any other branch-specific decoration?

 

Yes.  I ran into an Air Force space operations officer who had his Space Wings on top of his CIB from the Army.  In the Air Force, nothing goes above the Space Wings; it must be on top.  In the Army, the CIB is a "group 1 badge," and the space operations badge (exactly the same as the AF space wings) are Group 4.  That means the space wings go at the bottom; nothing can ever be above a CIB.

 

I have had several soldiers in the Army who were former Marines.  They wear their Marine Corps awards on their Army uniform.  When I was a battalion commander, one of my company commanders had been a Gunnery Sergeant in the Marine Corps Force Recon.  The dude was a total badass who left the Marines and got commissioned in the Army Reserve.  He had the scuba badge and the gold jump wings used by the USMC (not the Army master jump wings, but the wide gold ones the Marines have).  He had several combat deployments, but due to the massive and inefficient bureaucracy that is the Army, had no combat patch on his right shoulder sleeve.  He had never been in combat with the Army, just the Marines, and getting approval to wear someone else's combat patch takes a 3-star signature.

 

Holy smokes, I forgot my own brother.  He earned jump wings in the Army, but is now in the Navy.  He wears his gold whatever-they-call-it that says he is a Seabee, with the silver jump wings underneath.  He also has some Army ribbons on his rack.

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in 1955 in France I had a S/sgt that wore the CIB on his AF dress uniform. He earned it in WW2 in the army in Europe and transferred to the AF after the war. I was in the AP's and he was one hard task master. Fair but hard.

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7 hours ago, Cyrus Cassidy #45437 said:

 

Yes.  I ran into an Air Force space operations officer who had his Space Wings on top of his CIB from the Army.  In the Air Force, nothing goes above the Space Wings; it must be on top. 

:angry:

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