Two female South Korean soldiers have become the first women to earn the U.S. Army's Expert Infantrymen Badge.
According to USA Today, the badge is given to servicemembers who display a complete mastering of critical infantry tasks. Soldiers undergo a rigorous five-day exam where they are assessed on more than 30 elements including marching, fitness and navigation. Typically, the rigorous exam only has a pass rate of 8-10 percent due to its extreme difficulty.
The exam was open to American infantrymen in addition to members of the Republic of Korea's infantry and soldiers in the Korean Augmentation to the U.S. Army, noted Army Times. While U.S. women are ineligible to join the infantry, Korean women are allowed to serve in this military occupational specialty. While in the past U.S. women soldiers have successfully completed the test, they were not able to receive the honor due to their non-infantry status.
Army Times reported that the female badge recipients, Staff Sgts. Kim Min Kyoung and Kwon Min Zy, trained since June to prepare for the test, studying both U.S. and Korean military skills. In addition to actively serving Korea, they took the time to learn U.S. Army weapon systems by watching videos. They also adopted rigorous fitness routines, noted the source.
The servicemembers earned the opportunity to compete after successfully finishing a similar evaluation implemented by the Korean armed forces. The two women encourage the U.S. to be open to the idea of female infantry members.
"Female soldiers are capable of doing the missions successfully in the ROK army, so she thinks that it's OK for the U.S. Army to allow women in the infantry. By looking at her example, women are as capable as males," a translator told Army Times on behalf of Zy.