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Thanks...I've been following this.

Unfortunately this is only half the problem with our medals and awards. The other half of the problem lies within the services themselves.

Over the past twenty years the services have slowly moved the approval process for awards further and further down the chain. For instance, an award that might have required approval at the headquarters (DC) level twenty years ago may now only require a regional approval a couple of steps down the chain.

This has made the system quicker but at the same time it's also caused the number of medals approved to skyrocket and the unique value of the award to be lessened.

For instance, twenty or more years ago the Bronze Star was a fairly significant medal, today it is far too common. An example, in the early days of Operation Iraqi Freedom the Air Force gave a Bronze Star to an E-3 (very junior enlisted man), who had been the gopher at a stateside base involved with logistics planning.

I'm not saying the E-3 didn't deserve AN award, but he probably didn't deserve the same award a soldier or marine earned in combat.

An example, in the early days of Operation Iraqi Freedom the Air Force gave a Bronze Star to an E-3 (very junior enlisted man), who had been the gopher at a stateside base involved with logistics planning.

A Bronze Star while stateside. Details? Link?