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When my stripes shifted to gold, I was proud of them, for a while.
My primary combat medals, sure. But then you stack on the stars, then every time shifting around silver stars and bronze stars got to be a hassle.
At my last command, at my last dress uniform inspection, I was not able to fit all the stars on in the proper order and keep them in a perfect straight line. When my Commanding Officer got in front of me, I could see in his eyes that he was trying to count the bronzes and silvers. I thought he was going to comment on them being crooked, all he said was glad to see you finally got shore-duty before you retire.
I don't know how the Navy does it with multiple awards of the same medal, but the Army issue a Bronze Oak leaf with each new award of the same medal. That way you are not wearing 2 or 3 bronze stars on your ribbon rack, you wear one Bronze Star with 2 or 3 Bronze Oak leafs, or what ever attachment goes with the medal.
I don't know how the Navy does it with multiple awards of the same medal, but the Army issue a Bronze Oak leaf with each new award of the same medal. That way you are not wearing 2 or 3 bronze stars on your ribbon rack, you wear one Bronze Star with 2 or 3 Bronze Oak leafs, or what ever attachment goes with the medal.
With medals that have a ribbon, the ribbon by itself means one award.
A bronze star stands for one award, by being placed on a ribbon/medal, that means 2 awards. One for the ribbon and a second for the Bronze star. 2, 3 or 4 bronze stars would mean 3, 4 or 5 awards.
Then you shift to a silver star. The star stands for 5 awards, plus the ribbon so the servicemember has a total of six awards.
A silver star plus a bronze is 7.
Then you can see 1 Silver and 2 Bronzes, up through 1 Silver and 4 Bronzes. After that you shift to 2 Silver stars.
Two Silver stars mean 10 awards, plus the ribbon's original award. And then you begin adding Bronze stars after that in the same pattern.
I also wear a medal that has no ribbon. The Silver stars and Bronze stars go directly on the medal [there are punch-out spots on the medal for stars] Silver and Bronze stars go onto the medal in the same sequence as they would go onto a ribbon.
Some Navy stars are 5/16" and some Navy stars are 3/16", either way it is not uncommon to see a servicemember with more stars then will neatly fit onto a ribbon.
I have not kept up but one thing that does surprise me is how many are handed out for simple things but again, I have not kept up. I spent 6 years in the US Navy Submarine Service (60 to 66) and got one. Good Conduct. Quite a few commendations for things we did, but no medals.
I have not kept up but one thing that does surprise me is how many are handed out for simple things but again, I have not kept up. I spent 6 years in the US Navy Submarine Service (60 to 66) and got one. Good Conduct. Quite a few commendations for things we did, but no medals.
Six years in the Marine Corps and I came out with the National Defense Medal and the Good Conduct Medal with second award. Marines didn't hand them out like candy either.
Six years in the Marine Corps and I came out with the National Defense Medal and the Good Conduct Medal with second award. Marines didn't hand them out like candy either.
I was in the Marines from 97-02 and I was a data guy. When Y2K was a big deal, a few of us stayed late to patch all the PCs and servers so that they wouldn't blow up or whatever at midnight. Well, when Y2K came and went with no issues whatsoever, the next thing we knew, we were standing tall in front of the man and he pinned a Navy/Marine Corps Achievement Medal on us. Of course we thanked him and went about our day. But, when we were alone, we just laughed about it. We couldn't believe that they deemed this NAM worthy. When I was in bootcamp, one of my DIs got a NAM for saving the life of a recruit who was choking on food. The kid had turned purple and a quick response by the DI saved his life. Here you have a DI saving a life and he got the same medal I got and all I did was install a couple of patches on some PCs. I do think some commands are VERY loose when it comes to giving out awards. In my 5 year enlistment, I walked away with 4 NAMs and a Good Cookie. My last NAM was mailed to me after I was already out. By this point, I was completely jaded by the award, but every time I look at it or see one, I don't think about what I did to get them, I think of my DI who saved that kid's life.
Just curious if any medals you get are something you take with great pride or just something that you view as just part of the job and nothing to really write home about or anything in between.
There are awards and there are decorations (medals).
I never earned an individual decoration that I didn't make easy for my boss to justify; I fracking did stuff, stuff other people didn't think of doing, stuff other people wouldn't volunteer to do. I also never received a unit decoration that I didn't play a significant part in my unit earning--I was out in front as much or more than anyone else. Call me gung ho--I never took that as an insult. I was in it to win it.
Good conduct...not a lot of respect for that one, though. The Good Conduct medal is kind of a backhanded compliment: Official surprise that as an enlisted man I didn't get into serious trouble for three years.
There are awards and there are decorations (medals).
I never earned an individual decoration that I didn't make easy for my boss to justify; I fracking did stuff, stuff other people didn't think of doing, stuff other people wouldn't volunteer to do. I also never received a unit decoration that I didn't play a significant part in my unit earning--I was out in front as much or more than anyone else. Call me gung ho--I never took that as an insult. I was in it to win it.
Good conduct...not a lot of respect for that one, though. The Good Conduct medal is kind of a backhanded compliment: Official surprise that as an enlisted man I didn't get into serious trouble for three years.
I never gotten a NAM [Navy/Marine Corps Achievement Medal].
'Unit decorations' I have seen are NUCs [Navy Unit Commendation], never got any of those either.
For most of my career Good Conduct Medals were given out every 4 years. My first enlistment was for 6 years, so I got one after 4 years, but then the next two years did not count. Because it was two years left on that enlistment. My counter started again after I re-enlisted. If you only did 4 year enlistments, you could get a GCM every 4 years, at the end of each enlistment. So after 12 years total, you could have 3 GCMs. But if you did a 6-year enlistment, followed by two 4-year enlistments, you would get your third GCM at 14 years. I put on good hash marks at 12 years, though I did not get my third GCM until my 14th year.
I think they changed to every 3 years in 1996 or 1997.
I never gotten a NAM [Navy/Marine Corps Achievement Medal].
'Unit decorations' I have seen are NUCs [Navy Unit Commendation], never got any of those either.
For most of my career Good Conduct Medals were given out every 4 years. My first enlistment was for 6 years, so I got one after 4 years, but then the next two years did not count. Because it was two years left on that enlistment. My counter started again after I re-enlisted. If you only did 4 year enlistments, you could get a GCM every 4 years, at the end of each enlistment. So after 12 years total, you could have 3 GCMs. But if you did a 6-year enlistment, followed by two 4-year enlistments, you would get your third GCM at 14 years. I put on good hash marks at 12 years, though I did not get my third GCM until my 14th year.
I think they changed to every 3 years in 1996 or 1997.
Marine Corps was every three years for GCM, even back in the 70's. They even made sure I got the second one right before my six years was up. I guess they were counting on me to behave those last few days!
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Well, when Y2K came and went with no issues whatsoever, the next thing we knew, we were standing tall in front of the man and he pinned a Navy/Marine Corps Achievement Medal on us. Of course we thanked him and went about our day. But, when we were alone, we just laughed about it. We couldn't believe that they deemed this NAM worthy. When I was in bootcamp, one of my DIs got a NAM for saving the life of a recruit who was choking on food. The kid had turned purple and a quick response by the DI saved his life. Here you have a DI saving a life and he got the same medal I got and all I did was install a couple of patches on some PCs. I do think some commands are VERY loose when it comes to giving out awards. In my 5 year enlistment, I walked away with 4 NAMs and a Good Cookie. My last NAM was mailed to me after I was already out. By this point, I was completely jaded by the award, but every time I look at it or see one, I don't think about what I did to get them, I think of my DI who saved that kid's life.
