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Whatever you are "entitled" to wear on that uniform..........everyone of us KNOWS in our own mind what we did to get it.........its up to you to know if you "earned" it or not........
People very seldom wear their medals. Instead they wear ribbons. By looking at their ribbon bar you can tell where they were, how good of a troop they are, etc. it is warm fuzzes, do not hurt to give them and for some people you have to keep telling them they are doing a good job, so medals work for that too.
Do you think the military should do away with "I Was There" medals? That's what I call all those various medals one receives merely for being in a certain location at a certain time instead of earning the medal for valor of some type. I've got several of these medals, they're in a box under the bed. Showed my family and they ask what I got them for and my standard answer is being here or being there. I remember seeing an online photo of a WW2 general with a few ribbons on his chest and a modern general with so many ribbons it went up to his shoulder. Enough's enough.
Quite often SD the medals are give to our troops by the higher ups of the country we helped out or served in. But I'm with you on the fact that they do have to many for their "Look-at-me-Walls" when they retire.
I've been in service at places as a SeaBee when you would always see the same CPOs and officers. And all they ever did was put each other in for awards and forgot about those under them that did all the work.
The medals are to summarize a soldier by a glance. Eye candy for the civilians. The reason old Generals didn't have a bunch of ribbons and badges is because most of the Generals were suddenly promoted and didn't have the career that someone like Petreaus has had. They were promoted to fight a war. Back then, WW2 time era, they gave out very similar awards for being in a certain campaign, but they didn't have such awards for combat action, or getting wounded or awards for non combat acts, or significant acts above your peers. Most of the badges and things you see now days just recently were created and approved to honor such acts. The Airborne has only been around 60-70 years, of course you wouldn't see an old General with wings. We fought the Germans in WW2 so we couldn't get badges or wings from training with them, now we can. A lot of countries award us for being there and helping them, or for a certain war. The Army has Unit Awards, if a Unit performs above standard, and has such an impact on where they were, they get a Unit award. My unit replaced the 82nd and the unit here didn't have any routes or msr's planned or mapped out, they didn't do KLE's with local leaders, they barely went outside the wire, had no combat awards, purple hearts awarded, just a bunch of article 15's for people getting in trouble. My unit did joint operations with other countries Special forces, we traveled all over Afghanistan rebuilding and doing KLE's, we built two OCCP's, 3 JCOP's mapped out and cleared all the routes, and one of our attachments showed local people farming techniques, and put in wells and running water. We built schools and sh*t, we had such an impact, we got the Presidential Unit Citation. Awards have been approved and handed out to honor non combat related actions. For example a soldier puts in 16 hour days for two weeks straight and builds an entire BDOC by himself, on top of his normal duties, that's not something everyone did or can do. Same with if a soldier goes out of his way and pulls two people out of an overturned vehicle in a ditch. Non combat courageous act. He should get awarded. The only reason in the Army you get two ribbons for completing BCT, one for enlisting in time of war, which not everyone does and one for completing basic, because not everyone actually goes through BCT, so they award the ones who do, they aren't worth promotion points, so they don't really matter. And as for flying from place to place to get an award, with most campaign medals you have to be in that area for a set period of time, like 90-120 days, or 6 months, and you have to have successful completion of the tour, not just a day or two. Also you can't get a purple heart for putting your own eye out. It has to be caused by enemy action or ACCIDENTAL friendly fire. Whether it's from a bullet, shrapnel, concussion, etc. The awards are needed to show civilians, and other service members what type of soldier you are, how you perform, and where you've been. I have been deployed to Afghanistan, I got ONE ribbon for that specific campaign, the Afghanistan Campaign Medal. A Good Conduct Ribbon, for 3 years no rule breaking, which is actually hard to do, ARCOM for completing a combat tour, called an End of Tour award (EOT), which not everyone gets, AAM for building an entire BDOC by myself in 2 weeks putting in 16 or more hour days. The NDSM for enlisting in time of war, ArSVC for completing BCT, GWOTS showing that specific war I participated in, like they have them for the civil war, Vietnam, Korea, WW2, etc. A Nato award, Army Overseas Service for completing a tour overseas other than my combat tour, it was for a year in Korea, My Combat Action Badge for getting in a firefight with bad guys, not just for going to Afghanistan, only 26 people out of my unit got them, 100 from another one of our units, which they were in heavy sh*t down south, and I have my qualification badge for rifle and pistol. After I complete Sapper and Airborne, I'll have a tab and another badge, not everyone get's these awards. After I complete WLC i'll have the NCO development ribbon. Not every soldier deploys or goes to schools or even does anything above standard to distinguish himself. Those that do should be awarded. I volunteered and deployed overseas, I am a Spc, I have been in a little over 3 years, I have 3 complete rows and one on top, plus a chest badge. A Spc I know who has been in for 6 years, never deployed only has one complete row and 2 on top, and that just goes to show that it's an individual basis and the Army just doesn't hand out sh*t to everyone. Sure E-7's got a BSM, all officer's got an MSM or BSM, but they were for service, there are two types of Bronze stars you can get, and if you don't see a little bronze "V" on their medal, then it was for service. I was never wounded, so I don't have a Purple Heart, thank God. I never ran into the middle of a Taliban compound and killed 12 dudes by myself, so I don't have a BSM with "V" or a Silver Star, or MOH. The ribbons and badges you see on people's chest, most are earned, not every soldier earns his medals, but it's just how it is, and they are the ones who know what they got it for, so they can lie all they want about it. But you can tell real quick when a soldier is lying about his medals, if not go to S1 and look up his record, or better yet ask the soldier to see the paperwork proving that's what he got it for. Medals are earned, I don't care what you say or think, they aren't just thrown to everyone.
Last edited by spcpoff09; 10-24-2010 at 04:33 AM..
Reason: just a tip
Like anything else, there's an array of reasons to them. Top reason is called "branding" followed by the sense of achievement. I think some of you are on different pages between medals and/or ribbons...
Some folks serve for 20 years or more, including dozens of combat deployments, and will retire with less than 10 medals/ribbons [two rows of medal/ribbons and 3 'chest badge' medals]
And then there are those on their first enlistment, who can not possibly have completed very many deployments that wear tonnes of medals/ribbons:
Quote:
... Those that do should be awarded. I volunteered and deployed overseas, I am a Spc, I have been in a little over 3 years, I have 3 complete rows and one on top, plus a chest badge...
3 rows and one on top = 10 plus a chest 'badge'.
Imagine if such a servicemember were to stay in for 20 years, become a seasoned NCO who has completed a few dozen combat deployments how many medals/ribbon he would have.
Each branch is different, and within each branch, each community is different.
Six years,Beirut,Grenada,Sea Service w/three Bronze,proudly NO good conduct medal.Obviously,the Naval establishment and I differed on what appropriate conduct was in their establishment!
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