Posted on 10/21/2025 2:52:28 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
America’s military brass now wear more ribbons than warriors of old—symbols of a “participation trophy” culture that risks dulling the nation’s warfighting edge.
As America faces the very real threat of an armed conflict with a peer competitor—the People’s Republic of China (PRC)—it is worth noting that since the fall of the Soviet Union, America’s military has been infected by a peacetime mentality deluged with grade inflation, careerism, and politics and, for the purposes of this article, an awards program that makes our senior officers and senior enlisted look like cheap, tin-pot military dictators.
After two years of bloody fighting in Gaza, President Trump made history, once again, by negotiating a pathway towards peace in the Middle East. This past week, as the world witnessed President Trump and leaders of the Israeli government give speeches in the Knesset, one individual in the gallery stood out: the current Commander of U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), Admiral Brad Cooper. Wearing his service dress blue uniform, one could see that the admiral had seventeen rows of ribbons (up to 51 awards depending on what was under his lapel), Surface Warfare and Command pins, along with a Presidential Service Badge and CENTCOM identification badges; see his official photograph.
The admiral’s appearance, while lawful and within standards, does raise the issue of the Pentagon’s awards system, where America’s senior military officers are able to obtain, let alone wear, that many rows of ribbons, awards, decorations, and badges—the latter of which are worn throughout a career just for being assigned to a command. In other words, how does the existing U.S. military awards program actively promote the Secretary of War’s call to restore America’s warfighting ethos? Unfortunately, the answer is that it does not.
While Napoleon is famous for stating,...
(Excerpt) Read more at amgreatness.com ...
Always considered the AF SAEMR and later the Army Marksmanship Badge (Expert) as the ones I liked to wear the most as it was -hot as heck- when I qualified for both several years apart.
I went into ICBMs because I could never qualify for the marksmanship ribbon. About the same CEP either way for me.
During the Vietnam period it was standard for a maximum of three rows, combat awards on top. Unfortunately this was not a military regulation, and senior officers decided that it looked better to put all their awards on. Vainglorious comes to mind, especially when they look like a sausage in uniform.
I served for 4 years & don’t know if I ever was awarded even a good conduct medal. However I did receive a certain pin I was actually unqualified for, even AFTER I was discharged. Sometimes I wondered if anybody in that division of the military had any idea what they were doing.
On a related note...
Cynical Publius
@CynicalPublius
I am ABSOLUTELY FURIOUS over this article.
Look, if you are a serving general/admiral or senior civilian and you do not like the restoration of the warfighting ethos by SecWar, then your duty is to resign, step aside, and let some more junior steely-eyed killer take your place.
Running to the press to anonymously whine that Pete Hegseth hurt your feelings because he called you out on your failings is the mark of a COWARD.
If you are one of those generals/admirals/SESers/appointees and you engaged in this filthy behavior, you are a COWARD.
And if you wear the uniform, you should take it off RIGHT NOW because no matter what you did before now, the way you anonymously crawled on your belly to the press invalidated whatever bravery you may once have held.
YOU ARE ALL GUTLESS DEEP STATE COWARDS.
Resign, you filth.
Quote
The Washington Times
@WashTimes
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22h
‘He lost us:’ Generals, senior officers say trust in Pete Hegseth has evaporated
1:24 PM · Oct 21, 2025 821.4K Views
https://x.com/CynicalPublius/status/1980686697747890294
One more, and I’ll just post the link this time since it’s a longer tweet, but very worth the read.
He closes with this...
Please retweet and ❤️ if you felt safer when generals were scared of losing wars — not their parking spots.
https://x.com/infantrydort/status/1980760347502936183
Anyone on X, please retweet for me since I’m still banned.
BTTT.
Absolutely the way it should be.
I had my CAR from Beirut in 1983 and my rifle and pistol badges. The only 3 I cared about.
Way too many awards given for just hanging around. One could get two awards for the Covid-19 scam.
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