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 ...
Looks like the face of a 36x36 Rubicks cube.
Are the ribbons required, in toto, or just “signaling”.
My SIL wears ribbons for these purposes.
He wears them proudly.
But... he’s SRG-MAJ in the infantry and doesn’t have a ‘wall of ribbons’ to show off.
He finds more comnpatriots that way.
Overlap them a bit, and they might serve as scale armor.
Perhaps they can keep the awards and ribbons, but limit the display to twelve, or three rows. Valor ribbons at the top.
(Yeah, it’s photoshopped.)
In port overseas, I would tell the locals we were a special ship where everyone is a war hero.
OMG! I’ve been obsessed with this for YEARS! Good conduct medal? What a GD joke. COMBAT RELATED medals, PERIOD.
I did 25+ years, had 19 decorations/ribbons. Yeah, too much fruit salad. Had to wear ribbons one time while working at the Pentagon, an LT. (O-2) I “worked” for jokingly called me “Gunny” like the scene from Heartbreak Ridge - I got a kick out of it. Cool LT. to work for, he knew to stay out of way - I was an E-7 USAF at the time.
Now they are overwhelmingly participation trophies. You can get a ribbon in the USAF, just for completing basic training...i.e. everybody gets one. Used to be the same for the National Defense Service ribbon too.
I am more proud of my wings and my pocket rocket than any ribbon earned over the years.
Now, that is a precious response.
They could always grab up some Boy Scout sashes.
Thanks for the reminder - I want to get a shadow box made of my Awards & Decorations for my Mom before she’s gone!
In case anyone else is interested in doing the same for their family:
https://www.medalsofamerica.com/military-shadowbox-builder
Wow, that dudes like Team America all by himself.
These guys back then had nothing on the tough guys we have today:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2f/General_George_S_Patton.jpg
Recommendation: eliminate all ribbons under the commendation award.
No more awards for wiping your ass while in the military (national security ribbon), staying out of trouble (good conduct), or just sticking around long enough, etc.
I wonder which one symbolizes building a proper campfire?
Tying proper knots..
I remember at the end of Pacific Eugene Sledge had three ribbons on his uniform. After three and a half years in the Navy, I had three US and three South Vietnamese.
There’s the Sinai vacation ribbon: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multinational_Force_and_Observers_Medal#/media/File%3AMFO_Ribbon_bar.svg
And a thank you for joining ribbon: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Army_Service_Ribbon#/media/File%3AArmy_Service_Ribbon.svg
A lot of junk.
Stuff that doesn’t mean anything.
Personally when I did the military pecker size comparison gaze, I would look for an MSM. Anything above that probably means something.
When you give out medals for everything... It makes the medals awarded for combat in campaigns and valor look small.
Fewer ribbons makes more sense. The UK military and commonwealth countries have a lot less ribbons... The Canadian military for instance just instituted the ‘Sacrifice’ medal in 2008 for those wounded or killed in combat. Before that there was no medal to recognize those wounded or killed in action.
When my late father retired in 1972 from the Canadian military he had been awarded the Korea Medal (with Mentioned in Dispatches, an oak leaf attachment to the ribbon for Gallant and Distinguished service -1952/53), the United Nations Korea medal, the UN Cyprus medal (1964/65) and the Canadian Decoration with bar. He spent 25 years in the military.
After he retired he received even more medals... The Korean Volunteer Service medal, the Canadian Peace Keeping medal (for service in Cyprus), and the Special Service Medal with NATO bar (for service in Germany in the 1950s).
Seven ribbons for 25 years of service. BTW - Only 238 Canadian’s who served in the Korean war were awarded a ‘Mentioned-in-Dispatches’ by the Queen. A vary rare honor. He was wounded in Korea with shrapnel... But was able to return to service in short order, so if there were a ‘Sacrifice’ medal in those days he would’ve been awarded that one too.
I had a DMSM & an MSM - nothing above. Joke was I had too few “Good Conduct” Oak Leafs - three Art. 15s stundded that. Oh, well!
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