First look at the new ribbon for Marine combat instructors

The Marine Corps has released the first images of the service’s new combat instructor ribbon.

The green, black and tan ribbon will be awarded to all Marines who successfully complete a 36-month tour as a combat instructor at the School of Infantry East or West.

Marine Corps Times first reported on the new ribbon in August, which was approved earlier that month by Navy Secretary Ray Mabus. The decision to award combat instructors with a ribbon follows more than a decade of calls from the schoolhouses due to the rigors of combat instructor duty.

Thousands will be eligible for the new ribbon, which is backdated for anyone who has worked as a combat instructor or in a high-profile leadership role at SOI East or West since Oct. 9, 2002, when the job was opened to Marines from all military occupational specialties.

Details of the new ribbon are outlined in All Navy Message 060/14, which was authorized by Mabus on Aug. 22. Further details on the new ribbon will be released in a forthcoming MARADMIN, expected in to be released within weeks.

While recruiters, drill instructors and Marine security guards at embassies across the globe have long been awarded ribbons, combat instructors remained one of just two special duty assignments without a ribbon.

In order of precedence, the new ribbon will be placed after the Marine Security Guard Ribbon and before the Armed Forces Reserve Medal, according to a Marine Corps news release. The first batch of ribbons will be produced to meet short-term requirements at the Schools of Infantry and the Military Awards Branch, according to the release. The ribbons are expected to be available commercially about 30 days after the MARADMIN is released.

When Corps officials first announced in 2002 that the combat instructor SDA would be opened to all Marines, including those outside infantry MOSs, leaders formalized their intent to begin awarding a ribbon to those who completed a three-year tour in Marine administrative message 056/02.

But leaders reneged on the plan less than a year later, stating the job didn’t meet Navy Department standards for awarding a ribbon.

Since then, at least two commandants opposed the new ribbon. A job must be distinguished from other duty by its rigors, they said. Some argued that combat instructors were merely teachers no different than those at any other of the services school houses. But others contested that combat instructors worked long hours at risk to life and limb since the job requires regularly running live ranges.