Comments on: Medals Authorized for Soldiers Participating in Hurricane Relief

By: Jay Cline

Jay Cline — Mon, 12 Dec 2005 16:25:42 +0000

I agree with fizzix.

There is nothing wrong with awarding service with some form of recognition. I believe the Army still uses the three-year hash marks on the lower sleeve.

Now that I am in the civilian world, I wish I got the kind of token recognition that I got while in uniform.

Besides, wearing medals may look blindly impressive to civies, but to other service people, we generally know which ones are for valor and bravery and which ones are for service.

By: LJD

LJD — Mon, 12 Dec 2005 12:51:23 +0000

I will recognize some awards, such as the AAM and ARCOM, are being awarded more generously. But once you have one, there are no more ribbons, just appurtenances.

I will also say there are more campaign medals, because our troops are in general a LOT more busy than they were 20 or 30 years ago. That, and the nature of the mission has changed. If you are drawing hazardous duty pay for 6 or more months, likely you are entitled to some sort of campaign medal.

As far as those authorized for hurricane relief, I am split. Any deployment or rapid deployment is a stressful experience, especially in CONUS. I suppose this is what the awards were originally created for. It just seems like the "campaign" was a only a short duration.

By: James Joyner

James Joyner — Sun, 11 Dec 2005 12:59:07 +0000

Boyd: Interesting. The Navy and Air Force both award medals for marksmanship, for which the Army only gives "bolo badges." The Air Force, generally, is pretty medal happy. My sense is that the Marines are on the opposite end of the spectrum, being pretty stingy with theirs.

By: ron

ron — Sun, 11 Dec 2005 01:27:58 +0000

After 17 years (AF) I have 19 ribons (13 are medals), one with the v device, many other devices, etc, etc, etc, but the one that meant the most to me was an achievement medal I recieved for a Saudi stint. It was one I didn't expect and one for a time period I worked "above and beyond" if you will, with no expectation of any recognition what so ever. It meant a lot. The rest...thanks, nice to have.

By: Sandcrab

Sandcrab — Sun, 11 Dec 2005 00:33:50 +0000

When I joined the Navy in 1967, the National Defense Service Medal was known as the "Geedunk" Medal, since everyone who enlisted at that time got one. If you don't know what "Geedunk" means, try Google.

By: Boyd

Boyd — Sat, 10 Dec 2005 22:27:59 +0000

I was a bit surprised at your statement, "In the early 1980s, the Services created several new awards, including the various Achievement Medals..." Until I read this post and did some research, I didn't know that the Army and the Air Force didn't have Achievement Medals until 1981, although I was aware of the creation of the Joint Service version in the early 80s since I worked at a Joint Service agency at the time. FWIW, the Navy Achievement Medal (or NAM in Navy parlance) was established in 1961, and since it's awarded to Marines as well as sailors, it was renamed the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal in 1994, but I'm pretty sure folks still call it a NAM. Oh, and for the record, when I retired in 1994, I had 11 ribbons, but that's somewhat inflated since the Navy awards a ribbon for both pistol and rifle marksmanship. If you qualify as Expert, there's also a medal to accompany each of the ribbons.

By: Brownie

Brownie — Sat, 10 Dec 2005 21:48:43 +0000

Let's make sure that Michael Brown gets a couple of these and maybe a Medal of Freedom, while we're at it.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Sat, 10 Dec 2005 20:52:35 +0000

I got the Army Service Ribbon at the end of AIT and then I also got an Army Achievement Medal my first year in the Guard. I later got an Armed Forces Reserve Component Achievement Medal which is the USAR/ARNG equivalent to a good conduct medal.

That was all I got the 6 years I was in but I was out before the ops tempo increased so much.

By: fizzix

fizzix — Sat, 10 Dec 2005 20:19:14 +0000

I retired from the Navy with about six. Most were for being in the right place at the right time.

I learned to see medals, ribbons, and letters of appreciation as among the few ways we had to reward people for good performance. The military doesn't award monetary bonuses, Christmas checks, merit promotions, etc. Pinning on a medal is an opportunity to bring people forward before their peers and publicly acknowledge their good work. Also, medals count as "brownie points" when they are being considered for scheduled promotion (which is intensely competivie). Going up in rank means more money and prestige + job security, so giving people medals is a way to help them along.

By: Jazz

Jazz — Sat, 10 Dec 2005 19:27:58 +0000

After six years of service in mostly peacetime, (shortly after the vietnam war and into the early Reagan years, including being stationed offshore for the Iran hostage crisis) I had three as an enlisted man. (Left as E-5, pna E-6) Marksman, 4 year Good Conduct award, and WestPac deployment ribbon. This was Navy, of course... not sure how that differs from the ground pounder awards.

Yes, they give out a lot more now.

By: Matt

Matt — Sat, 10 Dec 2005 18:36:48 +0000

I thought the Armed Forces Service Medal was the one you got for going to Mass for four consecutive weeks.

By: Bithead

Bithead — Sat, 10 Dec 2005 18:22:55 +0000

given how easily most are awarded.

John Kerry's games leap to mind, unbidden. Your points about pride are well taken, but I submit that part of the awards system was damaged decades ago.

Further, I suggest that these two medals suggest a policy shift in what we expect our military to do when deployed. Have we devolved our military to a meals on wheels?