Medal Inflation in US Armed Forces (1 Viewer)

[gman]

Meh. It was what it was. Like I said, I consider my most valuable accolade the letter written by my Shop NCOIC when he PCSed while I was away at BNCOC. As I think back though, that might have been neck and neck with the letter written by my Chief Warrant, recommending me for Warrant Officer School.

Those are quite some attaboys. Did you go to WO school?

 

[RF667799]

Those are quite some attaboys. Did you go to WO school?

No. My Chief handed me the packet when I left Germany, complete with his letter, a couple more from other Warrants, and one from the Brigade Commander. He told me to drop the packet as soon as I got to Knox.

I said okay, and he said, "I mean it. It's a small Army and you'll see me again."

"Sure Chief."

Imagine my surprise when I had been at Knox a few months, and my wife told me who she had met in the hospital parking lot that day.

 

[Rich2018]

That really sucks.

Should get at least one of the gold bars you were guarding

 

[RF667799]

Should get at least one of the gold bars you were guarding

I didn't guard any gold bars. The Dept of Treasury did that. There was a rotating element of an armored brigade on call as a QRF though.

I have been in the Gold Depository. Even though I had a Secret clearance at the time, that required a more extensive background check overseen by the Dept of the Treasury.

 

[Tangmo]

I’m shocked there is no mention of the Good Conduct Medal!



Disclaimer; don’t have that one either.

No surprise of course.


Personnel across the services do like having the GCM / ribbon on their chest when they wear the Class A or dress uniform. Every time you wear either uniform you're broadcasting to everyone you have a clean record and that you're a good egg in serving our country. And that it's official. No one in civilian life gets this almost daily declaration to eyeball eh.

Officers across the armed services are not eligible for the GCM however. Rather, it is presumed and a given that the conduct and behavior of officers is exemplary and the model to all. Of course there's always the exception to every rule too, except this one.

Officers in the Army don't wear their service weapons qualification badges either, although they certainly have 'em. An officer in the Army will have the rifle qualification badge and the pistol one -- in a drawer only. Few civilians know the Marksman rifle badge is the lowest range of qualification scoring, Sharpshooter is the intermediate firing score and that Expert is the highest score of popup target hits in a wooded area of bush and shrub, up to 350 meters. When I did this happy stuff many moons ago popup targets 300m and beyond were in a clear open area that gave you a clear shot to 'em ha.

In uni ROTC on the range at Ft. Dix and with the M-14 I fired high score in the cadet brigade, 89 hits of 110 popups. Got my expert badge up on the stage and a trophy that looked and felt like it came out of a Tony The Tiger cereal box. We qualified over two mornings and on the second morning the NCO behind my station on the firing line who was scoring my shots said "You should fire high score today." I still remember hearing him but in the moment it went in one ear and out the other as I stood with my back to him focused on the range.

In the Old Guard I fired officer high rifle score 2 of the 3 times we did annual qualifications at Ft. Meade in MD while I was there; 2nd the other time. I don't talk about qualifying with the .45 which as a Marksman with it I hated with a passion -- I'd have no problem with it though taking out its inventor. In a complete contrast I knew the Army custom made the M-14 for me. Yep, they knew I was comin.

Army officers don't wear the service weapon qualification badge because it saves 'em face which is why it's actually an Army Reg. I mean, when you're a self embarrassment LT standing out front of your platoon talking to 'em and you have the Marksman rifle badge while half the platoon of Infantry in particular have the Expert badge and a quarter of 'em have the Sharpshooter badge you're gonna feel cheap about it. If you're a Major conducting a meeting of Captains and LT's half of whom have the Expert badge while you have the Marksman badge you're definitely going to feel cheap. So in the Army no officers wear those service weapon qualification badges.

In the Marines everyone wears the service weapon qualification badge which besides is twice the size of the Army badge. When in Dallas in November of 1963 Oswald was arrested on suspicion of, the news kept saying with his name "a Marine Corps Marksman" as if that were conclusive proof he was a hotshot with a rifle when in fact it is the lowest qualification across all of the armed forces. Still America was intimidated by the "Marine Corps Marksman" stuff all the time and always with his name. I was in Army ROTC and we tired of it quickly.

 

[RF667799]

Deleted scene from We Were Soldiers, with some of the soldiers anticipating the arrival of their new Sergeant Major Plumley.

 

[Tangmo]

Miley is wearing 20 medals and it looks like Eisenhower wore 18.

That's nuthin compared to this guy who's fought in every Russian war since Ivan the Terrible....




Now he has a secret plan for the Russians to win in Ukraine.


Seriously though, in the US armed forces when you get a second of the identical award you simply pin an indicator on it to indicate you got another of the award. In the Army and Air Force only it's a tiny oak leaf "cluster" you pin to the ribbon/medal. This could be the Good Conduct Medal award or something like the Silver Star or whatever. So this could put two or perhaps three oak leaf cluster indicators to a given medal / ribbon award. In Russia though you get the medal again and the ribbon again. Or you get the badge again. And again. And again.


A US Military Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster to indicate a second award of a medal/ribbon, or a third and so on. There is also the Silver Oak Leaf Cluster. Only the Army and the Air Force use this schedule of awards.







Bronze oak leaf clusters or a terminal 2nd award bar are prominent in this chest display of "fruit salad." The 1st and most senior medal awards are at or closest to the top, which in this instance is the Bronze Star at the top. The ribbons are arranged in a descending order of status and according to the minutia of regulations.


The oak leaf cluster keeps the medals/ribbons from clustering all over the uniform jacket. Or overwhelming the jacket ridiculously such as the Russians do, among certain other nations' militaries.

 

[Hamish Howl]

Have we reached the point where we now criticize the medals received by our men and women in the military?

Why?


Our military pays for crap. Perhaps giving them medals, ribbons, etc is a small recognition of their service and sacrifice.

It's just more right wing hatred for the military.

 

[Loulit01]

I always thought this guy had just the right amount of medals:


Robert Mueller was a life-long registered republican; a Marine Corps officer with Ranger training who served with distinction in Vietnam. When he was appointed, by a republican, Special Counsel in the investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, his own party viciously and repeatedly savaged him, insulted and belittled him. What Fox News did to him was unforgivable.

Bronze Star Medal with Combat "V", Purple Heart Medal,
two Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medals with Combat "V",
Combat Action Ribbon, National Defense Service Medal,
Vietnam Service Medal with four service stars,
Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross,
Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal, and Parachutist Badge.
Ranger Tab
Parachutist Badge

 

[Loulit01]

No surprise of course.


Personnel across the services do like having the GCM / ribbon on their chest when they wear the Class A or dress uniform. Every time you wear either uniform you're broadcasting to everyone you have a clean record and that you're a good egg in serving our country. And that it's official. No one in civilian life gets this almost daily declaration to eyeball eh.

Officers across the armed services are not eligible for the GCM however. Rather, it is presumed and a given that the conduct and behavior of officers is exemplary and the model to all. Of course there's always the exception to every rule too, except this one.

I remember on M*A*S*H, Colonel Henry Potter said the decoration he was most proud of was his GCM. He said officers didn't qualify and it showed he started as an enlisted man.

 

[Tangmo]

I remember on M*A*S*H, Colonel Henry Potter said the decoration he was most proud of was his GCM. He said officers didn't qualify and it showed he started as an enlisted man.

Yeah, "Green To Gold" meaning from enlisted to officer, 2LT butterbar. The tag is from when the Army standard wear uniform was green. The saying sticks even though Gen. Milley the WW II history fanatic was Chief of Staff and changed the Army over to the WW II uniform. I always liked the greens but we loved the summer tan khakis that while I was in got retired into year round greens. The only thing about the old greens is that when it rained we all smelled like sheep. The year round greens fixed that.

Enlisted to officer brings a lot of advantages with it, such as experience and whatever number of service awards meaning accomplishments and achievements plus just doing duty stuff. They make 2LT butterbars look good, but it's only them themselves of course. No butterbar can look good, not for a while yet.

An Old Guard NCO I met in uni ROTC went green to gold. I met the then SSG Joe Kinzer when he visited an SFC bud of his who was cadre in the Army ROTC program I was in at Priinceton. Joe took to me and told me I was meant for The Old Guard and he set me up for it perfectly so I went. Joe Kinzer went to OCS before I got there and he retired as the 3-star Lt.Gen. CG of III Corps -- a general who gets a Roman Numeral command is a star which Joe was as an NCO too. Going up through the officer ranks Joe did a bachelor degree then the master's degree that opened the general officer ranks to him (and to all of 'em). Army War College and stuff. He certainly made the most of it.

A decade ago or maybe it was more Joe Kinzer was the main speaker at an annual meeting of The Old Guard Association TOGA of only Old Guard veterans of all ranks and period of service, at Ft. Myer. TOGA places a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns, the regiment does a ceremony and parade; there's a BBQ on Summerall Parade Field and a lot of sitting around telling knee slapping tales from the woods. Joe was a riot of a speaker with such a wicked and sophisticated sense of humor. He had us ROTFLOAO. He was mercilessly funny. And he spared no one besides to include TOG officers and nco's who he knew and I met and worked with when I got there after he'd gone to OCS, 82nd ABD and The Nam.

Green to Gold do stand out as some of the very best ones, yes. They have that perspective.

 

[bomberfox]

I got your medal inflation right here.

 

[gman]

I got your medal inflation right here.
View attachment 67527004

Plug him in and let’s watch the light show.

 

[Rich2018]

I got your medal inflation right here.
View attachment 67527004

You can fight him with a magnet.

 

[jpn]

Have we reached the point where we now criticize the medals received by our men and women in the military?
Why?
Our military pays for crap. Perhaps giving them medals, ribbons, etc is a small recognition of their service and sacrifice.

I agree that sitting around nit-picking medals and ribbons is the pastime of sad-sacks.

However, IMHO the pay is very reasonable. It had been embarrassingly low, but really big pay increases in the 1980s made it up. Add in all the socialized goodies like free health and dental (basically for life although you have to start paying Medicare when you turn 65--oh, the pain), subsidized housing, rec and welfare, and the rest, it's a good deal.

Of course, you have O-5 Commanders skippering nuclear submarines; O-6 Captains in charge of nuclear aircraft carriers--what kind of pay would be reasonable for them? CEOs in private industry are making millions for having one-one hundredth the responsibility.

 

[gman]

I agree that sitting around nit-picking medals and ribbons is the pastime of sad-sacks.

However, IMHO the pay is very reasonable. It had been embarrassingly low, but really big pay increases in the 1980s made it up. Add in all the socialized goodies like free health and dental (basically for life although you have to start paying Medicare when you turn 65--oh, the pain), subsidized housing, rec and welfare, and the rest, it's a good deal.

Of course, you have O-5 Commanders skippering nuclear submarines; O-6 Captains in charge of nuclear aircraft carriers--what kind of pay would be reasonable for them? CEOs in private industry are making millions for having one-one hundredth the responsibility.

Well said Commander.

 

[NolanVoyd]

I don't have any personal stories of medal inflation. I earned every one of my 10 ribbons and all of my devices.

But that billionaire bitches medal of freedom is "better" than a medal of honor?

You should be ashamed of yourself for supporting Trump.

 

[Bodecea]

I was.


Basic training isn't a walk in the park and it especially wasn't the two times I completed it.

 

[jpn]

Meh...the entire system is fugaze anyway. Also no soldier worth his salt joined to get a fat ****ing rack.

On the other hand, it sure felt good to get those first few. On my first deployment, we earned the Navy Expeditionary Medal, The Sea Service Ribbon, and the Humanitarian Service Medal (picked up a boat of Vietnamese refugees and deposited them in Singapore).

I admit it: It felt good wearing those around 32nd Street.

 

[Fledermaus]

On the other hand, it sure felt good to get those first few. On my first deployment, we earned the Navy Expeditionary Medal, The Sea Service Ribbon, and the Humanitarian Service Medal (picked up a boat of Vietnamese refugees and deposited them in Singapore).

I admit it: It felt good wearing those around 32nd Street.

Also known (very inappropriately) as the "Give me Peso" badge.....



Earned one for efforts in San Francisco Bay post earthquake operations and just missed a second for Mount Pinatubo relief.

 

[JMB1911A1]

Also known (very inappropriately) as the "Give me Peso" badge.....

View attachment 67527273

Earned one for efforts in San Francisco Bay post earthquake operations and just missed a second for Mount Pinatubo relief.

Got mine for Hurricane Ike relief operations in Galveston.

 

[StillBallin75]

On the other hand, it sure felt good to get those first few. On my first deployment, we earned the Navy Expeditionary Medal, The Sea Service Ribbon, and the Humanitarian Service Medal (picked up a boat of Vietnamese refugees and deposited them in Singapore).

I admit it: It felt good wearing those around 32nd Street.

Not all of us are lucky enough to run around town for Fleet Week I suppose

 

[Rich2018]

Got mine for Hurricane Ike relief operations in Galveston.

A worthy action for a medal.

 

[Fledermaus]

A worthy action for a medal.

As are the majority of decorations.....

 

[Rich2018]

On the other hand, it sure felt good to get those first few. On my first deployment, we earned the Navy Expeditionary Medal, The Sea Service Ribbon, and the Humanitarian Service Medal (picked up a boat of Vietnamese refugees and deposited them in Singapore).

I admit it: It felt good wearing those around 32nd Street.

Like boy scouts collecting badges