Always cracks me up. Looks so dumb.

What you got?

Our armed forces currently show off too much "fruit salad" on both dress and fatigue uniforms. When I was assigned to 2nd ACR in the mid-80s in Germany, the Regimental Commander only used his Silver Star on his Class A and Dress Blues - the perfect contrast to the "badge hunting" that goes on today.

You don't get to be a NK general unless you exceed minimum FLAIR requirements!

Wear what you want in your dress uniforms, but not on a work uniform. There should be a maximum number of badges you can wear on the work uniform....3 maybe?

I have only cared about knowing who was a Drill Sergeant when on the parade field and who was the Master Gunner when on the gunnery range.

CanyonAg77 said:

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Back when I was in the Corps and dinosaurs roamed the earth, we used to call guys with a ton of cadet ribbons "Mexican Generals".




If we had access to the Internet, we probably would have called them North Korean Generals

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Guy looks down after lunch and see kimchee on his coat. "Ho Lee *** my wife gonna kill me!"

Fall of '74 my Fish year. A Fish Bud suggested we attend the Alpha Phi Omega get acquainted meeting. This was first or second week of the semester. Getting a ribbon would be so cool.

That next morning formation was the worst day of my young life!

I wondered about the NK medals. Turns out that a current NK soldier can wear two generations of medals. So, I you are a good NKPA trooper, you can wear you dad's and your grandad's medals.

Conversely, if you mess up, three generations are punished...

Could you imagine that in the US Army?

lol

I just can't get my hear around that one.

Ha! I only had two ribbons (medals) on my active duty uniform until late into my O-4 years of the Navy. Those were the National Defense Service Medal and Navy Expert Pistol Medal. Back in the days before Major Joint Ops (I.e., Desert Storm), the Navy's philosophy was that medals were just something else that corroded inthe salt air environment. Then, we discovered Joint Ops and by the time I retired as a O-6 Captain, I had accrued over 20 medals, ribbons and devices! Yep, we discovered the Army/AirForce method of tossing medals like Mardi Gras beads to our sailors!
The one that I really hated to see was using the Bronze Star Medal as an attaboy for end of tour award for deployments. Sorta took the extra specialness from it. But that's my opinion.

I have 19 awards. Most are
- thanks for joining
- thanks for sticking around so long
- thanks for going where you were ordered to go

I am proud of my BSM, JSM, and other merit-based medals.

A lot of NCOs think that the BSM is a "thanks for deploying medal" for Officers.

Every write up is different though

career Civ here.

My last boss in a Joint organization was a Green Beret who had some hairy stories from Iraq. I mentioned someone's Bronze Star as an indication that he had done something significant. His reply was "does it have a V device?"

What a diss!!!!

It was just me and him in his office. I didn't take it as a diss so much as "this is my way of judging what those medals really mean." For a civilian who's only peripherally aware of decorations and their significance, it was a perspective adjuster.

Aggie Therapist said:

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A lot of NCOs think that the BSM is a "thanks for deploying medal" for Officers.

Every write up is different though

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Not gonna lie, and this is just my opinion, but a BSM/V carries more street cred than just a BSM. GWOT, especially the earlier days turned the BSM into a service award. We had a battalion awards ceremony at the end of our surge deployment and every single E-7 and higher was awarded the BSM. E-6 and below got Arcoms. How the hell the S1 NCOIC gets a BSM and only ever left the wire once and that was to move FOBs rates that award over an E5 or E3 kicking in a door at 0200 on a raid boggles my mind. At least my next deployments only the Battery Commander and 1SG got BSMs I guess at the lower echelons.

For reference I am a former E6 who deployed as an E3, an E5 and then again as an E6.

Oh I 100% agree about the v device

Aggie Therapist said:

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Oh I 100% agree about the v device

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My man!!!! On a different note, shoot me an email at username at gmail.con. Wanted to pick your brain about something VA related you mentioned awhile back.

Got mine for my first deployment to Iraq (03-04). BN CDR as an O4. Got a call at home from HRC asking if I could take command of a BN going to Iraq. The CDR had been relieved for "dipping his pen in the company ink". I had 4 days' notice to get to Campbell.

Got into Baghdad the day after the statue was toppled. Lived in a JLIST and body armor for 11 days straight. Didn't get a real shower until my 3rd month in theater. MREs for 6 weeks straight (supplemented by the occasional chicken or goat bought from the locals).

Dipping his pen in company ink.

I've never heard that before but that's hilarious.

Based on those conditions, username checks out.

And obviously that award was rightly earned. However at some point it became a blanket end of tour award for senior ranks. And then again afterwards it appears to have been dialed back down as far as the amount of BSMs awarded. While probably not the same, I'm proud of my CAB because I know I earned it the way it was intended to be awarded, by engaging and being engaged by the enemy. And at some point that award was diluted by the amount of times it was awarded for just being in proximity to combat vs actually participating in combat. I'm also immensely proud of my PH and Arcom/V I got my first deployment.

Also interesting to note. That congress (and rightly so) authorized the BSM to be awarded to every man who wanted the CIB and CMB during WWII.

Also, not downplaying your earned medal.

Rightfully deserved