RICHMOND, Va. –
Six Virginia Army National Guard infantrymen earned the Expert Infantryman Badge after days of rigorous testing that culminated in an Oct. 31, 2025, ceremony at Fort Belvoir, Virginia. The 3rd Infantry Regiment, known as the Old Guard, conducted the testing at Fort A.P. Hill, Virginia.
Four Soldiers — Staff Sgt. Joshua Patton, Staff Sgt. Ivo Garner, Sgt. Carter Cooper and Spc. Javan Cooper — serve with the Staunton-based 116th Mobile Brigade Combat Team, while two — Sgt. 1st Class Jon Valdizan and Staff Sgt. Chad Owen — are assigned to the Fort Pickett-based 183rd Regiment, Regional Training Institute.
First approved in 1943, the EIB serves to “recognize infantrymen who have demonstrated a mastery of critical tasks,” which “build on the foundation of individual proficiency, allowing them to locate, close with and destroy the enemy,” according to the U.S. Army Infantry School.
EIB testing occurs in four phases over five days. Day one includes the Expert Physical Fitness Assessment and day and night land navigation courses. The middle three days focus on weapons, medical and patrol lanes, and on the final day Soldiers complete a 12-mile ruck march.
“The funny thing about EIB is that people tend to fail the events that they were the most comfortable with,” Garner said. “It’s rarely the events that you’re worried about that end up getting you.”
To get a “go” on an event, candidates must complete the task to standard, usually in a specific sequence and often under a strict time limit.
“My biggest worry was breaking sequences from habits built doing things differently for years,” Owen said. Both he and Garner previously attempted to earn the EIB but, like many, fell short. Less than 20 percent of Soldiers who begin EIB testing actually earn the badge.
This time around, Garner trained and tested alongside two Soldiers from his platoon, brothers Carter and Javan Cooper. All three are assigned to the scout platoon within the 116th MBCT’s Lynchburg-based 1st Battalion.
“As a staff sergeant, I felt a strong sense of duty to demonstrate resolve and toughness to my Soldiers so that when they were feeling weak or discouraged, they could at least look to me for strength,” Garner said, adding that, in the end, “I felt that I was actually looking to them for motivation.”
Throughout the testing and training process, the three worked together to encourage, support and motivate one another.
“The EIB is tested individually, but you prepare and earn it with the people around you,” Carter said, noting that all three brought different strengths. “Some of us understood certain lanes better than others, which helped us teach each other and practice rep after rep.”
Carter’s brother, Javan, was the least experienced of the trio, and said the patrol lanes were the ones he focused on the most during train-up.
“I had never done a call for fire lane or a spot report lane before, especially for time,” he said. To prepare, he studied and ensured he was physically fit enough to exceed the standard, but noted that the EIB is difficult to train for. “The best way to prepare for the EIB is to take all the advice and teachings from your graders on the practice days. They will teach you what you need to know for when test day comes, and if you practice what they teach you, you will succeed.”
The 183rd RTI Soldiers, Owen and Valdizan, teamed up with several peers from the Old Guard. Owen said they trained on everything together and stuck to small groups of two to three.
“This strategy kept us all in the game,” he said.
As the men approached the finish line of the 12-mile ruck march, they said they felt intense relief and pride — not just in what they accomplished individually, but in what they achieved together as Virginians.
“When I had the finish line in sight and knew it was over, I just felt relieved,” Carter said. He, Javan and Garner all finished the ruck together. “I’m so proud of them.”
Javan described reaching the ruck march finish as “a moving experience.”
“For two weeks, we had trained physically and mentally to perform all infantry tasks to standard. We took it day by day, lane by lane, and finally made it to the ruck,” he said. “We began EIB testing together and we finished together.”
Garner said he was filled with immense relief, both physically and emotionally.
“Both of my quads had been cramping for the last three miles of the ruck, so taking my ruck off felt amazing,” he said. “But also […] this was my third attempt at the EIB across my career. Knowing I won’t have to go through the stress of it all over again is a huge relief to me.”
Owen reported similar feelings.
“It was a huge weight lifted off my shoulders,” he said. “I have only failed two schools during my career — Rappel Master and EIB. I conquered both of those this year and feel extremely accomplished.”
Owen credited the Old Guard with putting on a great event and said he had immense respect for the cadre and Soldiers who made it happen — all, he joked, except for whoever designed the 12-mile ruck route.
Seven Virginia Soldiers started testing for their EIB with the Old Guard, and six were successful, an 85 percent success rate.