Posted on 04/25/2016 7:36:14 AM PDT by glorgau
Time to reform the Pentagon’s award system
There has been a jarring addition to U.S. military uniforms since the end of World War II. Seventy years ago, high-ranking officers wore relatively few ribbons or medals — and awards for valor were rare. Go back farther to the Civil War, and it was common for officers to not wear military decorations at all.
But for the modern officer, it’s now possible to perform one’s duties without being a hero and still have a chest full of ribbons that are indecipherable to all but the most dedicated students of phaleristics.
Most of all, the typical 21st-century American general is a walking wall of multi-colored “great job” ribbons, none of which are awards for valor.
The ribbons have spread so widely that it has become difficult to differentiate heroes from bedecked bureaucrats, assignment-junkies and dedicated self-improvement types — which, I suppose, is partly the point.
The bureaucrats who added the great-job ribbons have ensured that some of these ribbons rank higher than do most medals for actual, individual acts of heroism.
(Excerpt) Read more at warisboring.com ...
Kind of like a military version of a participation trophy.
Didn’t Obama propose a Medal for ‘restraint in combat’ or some such Leftist pursuit? Did that Medal ever come into being?
I’ve been retired for some time.
I still remember having to get a formal picture taken for my files. I was astonished at the number of ‘good job’ ribbons I was entitled to wear.
It was explained to me that it was very important that I wear all the ribbons in this photograph. Some members of promotion board would take a magnifying glass to inspect the photograph to ensure that all the ribbons wear there and in the proper order. Evidently, this inspection disclosed which officers paid attention to detail and were good candidates for promotion.
We also have lots of guys who have deployed numerous times in the last fifteen years. The burden has fallen unevenly on special ops.
I also loved the civilian workers equivalent, the “I love me wall” which displayed all their awards including their time in service, diplomas, etc.
Not only that , but many of us saw cooks, desk pushers, , and pillow case issuers getting exactly the same medal as us when they did nothing and never were in danger.
Today they get ribbons for finishing training, doing good in shooting, hell the military is starting to look like the Mexican Generals with all these ribbons and medals.
That’s gotta P.O. the soldiers who earned their awards the hard way.
Today you can d 4 years, get a bunch of ribbons and medals, never move away form your desk, get all your freebies, never have been in danger, never in a combat zone, and can still go ion Chi-fil-a to get their free burger and none of us know today what they have done , but it sure looks damn impressive.
how about getting medals for war torn zones and doing something brave, yea what a novel concept.
Eight years of active duty, I think I had a grand total of 3: National Service Defense (everyone gets that), Arcom, and MSM. Funny thing is, I got my MSM on my last day of active duty before going on terminal leave, have never worn my class A with it.
During the immediately post World War Two period the use of ribbons which did not have a form uniform medal equivalent evolved into a sort of resume shorthand.
You can tell how long someone has served, get a general idea of where they were probably stationed, whether they have discipline issues, how competent they are at their specialties, and more all from reading their ribbons.
The author is thinking of ribbons strictly as a measurement of Valor. While that was once the case, it isn’t now. The ribbon bar has become a sort of colorful fabric post-it note.
It used to be kind of a matter of pride to not wear a bunch of medals.
Here’s the story I was told.
There was a big congressional committee meeting and all the Services had big dogs at it. During a recess, one of the congressional staffers was talking to a General’s staffer.
“Are the Army guys not as brave as the other services?”, the congressional staffer asked.
“Of course they are”, the General’s staffer replied.
“Then why don’t they have as many medals as the other guys?”,
Civilians know what they see. You’re not brave unless you have lots of badges and ribbons.
Yes, it has. I think the reason for that is Special Ops can be referred to as ‘advisors’ so they don’t have to admit ‘boots on the ground’. I still tear up when I think of all those SEALs lost on ONE helicopter in Afghanistan. I would LOVE to know who made the decision to put them all on ONE helicopter and who actually authorized that mission.
The impression I get from people I know who are vets of our recent/current conflicts is that a lot of people get a silver star for simply performing honorably and efficiently on a combat tour, without performing any particular act of derring-do.
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Some day they will have to halt this ‘Hero’ and ‘warrior’ worship. Recipients of a CMOH or Silver Star probably did something heroic to earn the title. Purple Heart recipients presumably earned it for shedding blood in battle, unless you’re John Kerry getting a grain of rice removed from under the skin. All medals can be tricked, officers (like kerry) can write up their own requests. The message of this OP is correct though, participation is not a medal earning event unless you’re on the 4yr old Tball team. Soldiers performing well under fire know how they did, they don’t have to deck out like a north korean dogcatcher to make the world see it.
What’s funny is the uniform regulations when I was in only required that you wear your top 3 awards. I watched a lot of my classmates get plenty of medals/ribbons for administrative stuff but it all depended on the CO.
There were the anti-award guys and the pro-award guys and plenty of careers were ruined by the anti’s just because of the different approaches.
I missed the comraderie of the service when I got out, but I sure didn’t miss the political bs.
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