The Combat Infantryman Badge (CIB) is the U.S. Army combat service recognition decoration awarded to soldiers—enlisted men and officers (commissioned and warrant) holding colonel

Colonel

Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...

 rank or below, who personally fought in active ground combat while an assigned member of either an infantry

Infantry

Infantrymen are soldiers who are specifically trained for the role of fighting on foot to engage the enemy face to face and have historically borne the brunt of the casualties of combat in wars. As the oldest branch of combat arms, they are the backbone of armies...

 or a Special Forces unit, of brigade size or smaller, any time after 6 December 1941. The CIB and its non-combat analogue, the infantry skill-recognition Expert Infantryman Badge

Expert Infantryman Badge

The Expert Infantryman Badge, or EIB, is a military badge of the United States Army. Although similar in name and appearance to the Combat Infantryman Badge , it is a completely different award: while the CIB is awarded for participation in ground combat, the EIB is presented for completion of a...

 (EIB) were simultaneously created during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 as primary recognition of the combat service and sacrifices of the infantrymen who would likely be wounded or killed in numbers disproportionate to those of soldiers from the Army’s other service branches.
After the United States' declaration of war in 1941, the U.S.