Posted on Aug 26, 2014

How do you make medal ribbons flat like the Old Guard?

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How do you make medal ribbons flat like the old guard

I have always been impressed at the Old Guard soldiers and their meticulous uniform so I was wondering how they make their full size medal ribbons flat?

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Medals

Posted 10 y ago

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Responses: 11

CPT (Join to see)

Posted 10 y ago

They build their own medals. My cousin used to work in QM in FT Myer and he showed me his. They have rolls of the different ribbons and they cut the shape out, glue it to a plastic backing, and glue the medal and clothing pin to the ribbon.

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SSG(P) (Join to see)

>1 y

Medals Rack ROP Instructional

Sir metal placards work a bit better than plastic ones. Here is the ROP video they sent our honor guard members to do the process, it is time-consuming. There are a few online sources to get the extra ribbon to make the racks with it just takes time to track them down.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kf7FD6OCC90

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SFC Stephen Carden

Posted 10 y ago

Funny, I was just having this conversation the other day. I was putting together a retirement shadow box for a friend of mine who is retiring at the end of the month. As I arranged his medals and affixed all of the devices to them, I couldn't help but wonder why this stuff hasn't been updated since WWII. There has to be a better way to make medals and ribbons so that you don't ruin them when you try to slide them on the bar. Devices are ridiculous. It is kind of hard to push the pins of an oak leaf cluster through a ribbon or medal and get the OLC perfectly centered and straight. Why dont we have magnetic ones by now? Or something easier to affix. I think I will come up with something and take it to Shark Tank. The tricky part will be making something modern and user-friendly and still staying within Army regs on it.

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1SG Mike Case

10 y

I cut the clips on the back of the appurtenances with fingernail clippers and then put a dab of superglue on it and then attached it to the ribbon. Looks a lot better and is quite easy to do.

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LTC Paul Labrador

10 y

1SG Mike Case, a drop of Elmer's glue works too, since it dries clear.

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1SG Mike Case

10 y

I will have to try the Elmer's glue Sir. There has been a few times I used too much superglue and it was easy to see. Had to buy a few ribbons as I learned how to do it and make it look good.

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SFC Stephen Carden

10 y

Thanks for the tips everyone. As long as I have been around, I have never thought of doing any of this. It still seems like it should be easier and not involve glue and nail clippers though! I will definitely use these techniques when I build my retirement shadow box!

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LTC (Join to see)

Posted 9 y ago

I would love to see a YouTube video of this process.

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SSG(P) (Join to see)

>1 y

Medals Rack ROP Instructional

Sir, here you go it is a time consuming process and there is a few online sources to get extra ribbon to make the racks with it just takes time to track them down.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kf7FD6OCC90

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How do you make medal ribbons flat like the Old Guard?

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