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?
11.06.2025 07:33
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.
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 ...
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.
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.