Was the Cold War functionally any different then Operation Desert Shield?

This question is a rehash of a point I made deep in the Cold War SM thread. I'm selfishly posting it as a new question because I'm genuinely curious about what the RP community thinks about this.

The purpose of Desert Shield was to mass forces and deter aggression. Yes, the primary goal of Desert Shield was to convince Saddam Hussein to leave Kuwait, but one can argue that the Cold War had a similar goal regarding the USSR and Iron Curtain nations.

My point is that Desert Shield was prosecuted without a shot fired in anger; yet, veterans that deployed to that campaign earned the SWADM and all active service members during that period earned the NDSM (whether of not they served during Desert Storm--folks deployed for both campaigns received TWO SWADMs).

If there is little functional difference between Desert Shield and the Cold War (Is there? That's my question to the group!), then I don't see why Cold Warriors shouldn't be honored similarly (campaign medal for forward troops; NDSM for all).