Post honors Expert Infantryman Badge recipients: Female captain passes EIB tests
Capt. Michelle Roberts, commander of Company F, 2nd Battalion, 60th Infantry Regiment, was the only female Soldier who passed the test.
Wilkie and Roberts were two of 42 Soldiers who passed from a field of 97 who began the testing.
"This is the first year that (I've seen) a (woman) compete in the 27 years I've been in the Army," said Sgt. Maj. Michael Love, the noncommissioned officer in charge of the Expert Infantryman Badge, or EIB, testing. "I think it's great."
Roberts, an activated National Guard Soldier, said she believes it is her duty to be trained as well as possible in Soldiering skills, which is why she did not want to pass up the opportunity to go through the test and the two-week training in preparation for the EIB.
"Male or female, we're all Soldiers first. It doesn't matter what your (military occupational specialty) is. It doesn't matter what job you do for the United States Army. You're a Soldier first," Roberts said. "It's good to have all the training under my belt. I know that if I go into combat now, I have confidence in myself, I can rely on myself, (and) my battle buddies can also rely on me."
Roberts, who is a military intelligence officer, received a certificate for meeting the EIB requirements, but will not be able to wear the badge because she comes from a non-combat arms branch. Lt. Col. Larry Murray, commander of the 2-60th, said he is proud of Roberts and all the Soldiers who tested for the EIB.
"I think it is a testament to the leadership here on Fort Jackson that this testing was open to all Soldiers, regardless of branch and gender," Murray said. "Any opportunity a Soldier gets to train on any task and be tested only makes the Soldier and our Army better."
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