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.
I also loved the civilian workers equivalent, the “I love me wall” which displayed all their awards including their time in service, diplomas, etc.
That’s gotta P.O. the soldiers who earned their awards the hard way.
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.
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.
Its kinda like the Russians and the French. I remember getting a tutti fruity ribbon. WTF was it for, a LGBT toleration award? I remember Eisenhower had about 5-6 ribbons, same goes for Bradley and probably Hodges, and Patton. But you have to realize that many are campaign ribbons. We had quite a few of those. I can see keeping the Valor, exceptional service, and campaign ribbons.
I agree. I served in active Army, Army National Guard, and Air National Guard. I retired from the Air Guard after 21 years total service.
Because I was in both the Army branch and Air Force branch, my ribbon rack looks like an old soviet general’s. There’s really only about 5 or so ribbons I’m proud of. I’ve kicked around the idea of getting a thin ribbon rack with just the important ones, but I really have no reason to wear them.
What I’m most proud of is my German Schutzenschnur in gold, and my Air Force Distinguished Rifleman’s badge #300. My DRB was the 300th given out by the Air Force since they broke away from the Army.
In 1945...there were about 14 million Americans in the military. Today, it's just over 2 million, including reserves. Yet the number of flag rank officers today is THREE times what it was in WW II. hat's a massive..well, call it "rank inflation"..and remember, each flag rank gets a whole staff...
Today’s version of military “heroes” are a joke when looking at their ribbons.
Just for being deployed they get one.
You’d think they were braver than our WWI and Civil War officers.
There are six different decorations for polishing a chair with your butt.
I can attest to this. When I deployed to Iraq people were awarded ribbons/medals based on their duty position. All the Plt Sgts and Plt Ldrs were given bronze star medals. Of course there were no “Combat V” devices on them. But average people only see the Bronze Star Medal.