Why do US military soldiers/officers have a chest full of medal ribbons when they probably haven't been in a combat situation? Are the medals for attendance, good behaviour, or long service perhaps?
16.06.2025 03:02
Ugh. I am so tired of this question. I put in 33 years by the time I retired - 5 as an NCO in the Army, and 27 as an officer in the Marines (it’s complicated). I have a lot of ribbons,and with the exception of 2 ribbons, I earned the hell out of the rest.
And while I have seen more than a few officers and NCOs who, in my opinion, don’t deserve a lot of their chest candy - the vast majority do.
The exceptions are one of my Purple Hearts, because we were all running away, and we were probably taking friendly fire (and yes, I know that technically that qualifies, but it still bugs me). And my NDSM for very complicated reasons that I don’t want to detail here.
Finally, I think that most in the military have mixed feelings about at least some of their awards - I think that is normal. Some of what we did to “earn” those awards was ugly and painful, we would rather not be reminded of what ...