page_title: Marksmanship badges (United States)
section_title: U.S. Army
hierarchical_section_title: Marksmanship badges (United States) / Marksmanship qualification badges / U.S. Army
caption_attribution_description: English: Drawing of former U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps Rifle Marksmanship Badges
context_page_description: In the United States, a marksmanship badge is a U.S. military badge or a civilian badge which is awarded to personnel upon successful completion of a weapons qualification course or high achievement in an official marksmanship competition. The U.S. Army and the U.S. Marine Corps are the only military services that award marksmanship qualification badges. However, marksmanship medals and/or marksmanship ribbons are awarded by the U.S. Navy, U.S. Coast Guard, and U.S. Air Force for weapons qualifications. For non-military personnel, different U.S. law enforcement organizations and the National Rifle Association award marksmanship qualification badges to those involved in law enforcement. Additionally, the Civilian Marksmanship Program and the NRA award marksmanship qualification badges to U.S. civilians. Most of these organizations and the U.S. National Guard award marksmanship competition badges to the people they support who succeed in official competitions.
  The U.S. Army awards their marksmanship qualification badges for a variety of weapons while the U.S. Marine Corps only awards theirs for the service rifle and service pistol.
context_section_description: The U.S. Army awards Army Marksmanship Qualification Badges to their soldiers, U.S. Army uniformed civilian guards, and foreign military personnel, while the CMP awards these same badges to U.S. civilians who qualify at three different qualification levels (highest to lowest): expert, sharpshooter, and marksman.  Suspended from the badge are Army Weapon Qualification Clasps that indicate the type of weapon the individual has qualified to use.  The following list of Army Weapon Qualification Clasps are currently authorized under U.S. Army Pamphlet 670-1:
  The level at which one qualifies is dependent on the weapon, firing range, and the course of fire.  For example, to earn an Army Marksmanship Qualification Badge for Pistol at the Combat Pistol Qualification Course, one must have a combined hit count of 26 out of 30 for expert, 21 out of 30 for sharpshooter, and 16 out of 30 for marksman on firing tables one through five.  Regardless of the soldier's overall score, everyone must have a minimum hit count of three out of five while wearing a gas mask for the chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear firing table and two out of four while shooting at night for the night firing table.  Each of these firing tables test the shooter on different aspects of combat pistol shooting (shooting from a concealed position, speed loading, shooting on the move, etc.) while engaging human silhouettes at varying distances within an allotted time.
  Army Marksmanship Qualification Badges are not permanent awards.  When a soldier re-qualifies with their weapon at a different level, the soldier replaces their qualification badge with a new badge that reflects their current level.  Only three Army Marksmanship Qualification Badges are authorized for wear on U.S. Army service uniforms and each may have no more than three Army Weapon Qualification Clasps.  Although these badges are awarded to both officers and enlisted soldiers alike, as a matter of U.S. Army tradition, only non-commissioned officers and enlisted soldiers are expected to wear these badges on their service uniforms.
  The Army began using marksmanship qualification badges in 1881 starting with the Marksman Button.  That led to a variety of different U.S. Army branch specific marksmanship badges until 1897 when the Rifle Marksmanship Badges were implemented U.S. Army wide.  The U.S. Army's Pistol Marksmanship Badges were implemented ten years later in 1907.  Clasps were added to the Sharpshooter Marksmanship Badge and Expert Marksmanship Badge to indicate the year(s) a soldier requalified as a sharpshooter or expert.  Up to three years were denoted on a single clasp.  Upon earning the badge a fourth time, another clasp was added and that new clasp was used to denote up to three additional years of requalification; there was no limit to the number of clasps that could be hung from these badges.  In 1915, the U.S. Army changed the design of the Expert Pistol Qualification Badge's pendant by replacing the revolvers with M1911s; this pendant lives on in today's Marine Corps Expert Pistol Qualification Badge.  Additionally, the U.S. Army had a short-lived series of Artillery Qualification Badges from 1891 through 1913.  In 1921, the pistol and artillery badges were combined into today's Army Marksmanship Qualification Badges through the addition of the Pistol Clasp and Field Artillery Clasp.  Prior to 1951, the names of the qualification levels for the current Army Marksmanship Qualification Badges were known as (highest to lowest) expert, sharpshooter or first-class gunner, and marksman or second-class gunner.  Also, prior to 1972, the Army Marksmanship Qualification Badges had many different types of weapon qualification clasps.  According to The Institute of Heraldry, the following is a list of previously awarded Army Weapon Qualification Clasps:
caption: Former U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps Rifle Marksmanship Badges
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