Posted on Mar 30, 2014
Why don't more Soldiers wear their full size medals?
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I have attended dozens of Army Balls thoughout the years. And one thing stands out to me. No one wears full size medals. Everyone to incude senior NCOs and officers are content to wear ribbons. You might have one or two people sporting medals, but they usually are very rare. Why is that? <br><br>Every time I see pictures of Marines in their Dress Blues more often then not they are sporting medals. No matter what rank. I have seen E-2s and E-3s sporting medals during their Balls. Are they "required" to have them? Is it something pushed down by their NCOs, that everyone with wear Medals?
Uniforms
Pride
Medals
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 128
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I used to wear mine all the time when I was recruiting because there was this Marine recruiter that would try to sell the Marines based on a the uniform. Needless to say I made the young man shy away.
I would say the expense is what deters most people, especially if you buy the anodized ones. I'm too cheap for that so I polish mine. I also believe we should wear the belt with the uniform as you can see.
I would say the expense is what deters most people, especially if you buy the anodized ones. I'm too cheap for that so I polish mine. I also believe we should wear the belt with the uniform as you can see.
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SGT Ernest Huerta
Years ago I bought nine "mini-medals" the were set in 3 rows on a single
mount. I got them for wear on civilian suit jackets but never wore them. Got
them partially to STICK IN THE FACE of any Anti-war, "professional college
students" and other low-life pukes who got draft deferments causing some other
less fortunate "son" to take their place. I despise those people, will till I die, but
could never bring myself to wear them. Now they are tarnished and moldy,
just like me. "Illigetimus non carborundom"!
mount. I got them for wear on civilian suit jackets but never wore them. Got
them partially to STICK IN THE FACE of any Anti-war, "professional college
students" and other low-life pukes who got draft deferments causing some other
less fortunate "son" to take their place. I despise those people, will till I die, but
could never bring myself to wear them. Now they are tarnished and moldy,
just like me. "Illigetimus non carborundom"!
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CDR Matthew McLaughlin
SSG(P) Matthew Bisbee That's unfortunate. I would have seen it as you doing honor to a new family member.
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I always wear my full medals, and I am usually the ONLY one at the ENTIRE ball doing so. Honestly I think it's a cost issue - at least many people remark how expensive they are when I go. But I really don't care, if I'm going to wear my dress uniform, it should be DRESS. And to me, dress is full medals.
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CDR Matthew McLaughlin
CMDCM Gene Treants I'm the oddball here, Master Chief. I've gotten far more wear out of mess dress than I ever did out of service dress. I actually had to update my SDBs from ENS to LCDR when a new CO decided to make Dinner Dress Blues (SDB jacket not dinner jacket) the designated uniform for a dining in. Of course, this was on the reserve side, and many times I was at an Army ball for my civilian job.
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CMDCM Gene Treants
CDR Matthew McLaughlin as you can guess, I have been retired many years and when the ocassion presents, I still enjoy dressing in a Tux and wearing my Mini Medals.
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CDR Matthew McLaughlin
CMDCM Gene Treants Looking good, Master Chief! This is my last time in mess dress at the Oct 2019 EDO ball, shortly before the pandemic. I retired Nov 2020, so next time I'll either have to shave my beard for the uniform or buy a tux. Maybe I'll be able to talk my bride into that Polaris Military tartan set I've been looking at...
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CMDCM Gene Treants
CDR Matthew McLaughlin - I'd love to see that. All I have in a kilt is a plain black and never worn that as part of a dinner dress, YET! lol
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But if I wear medals, people won't see my coveted ASR & NCOPDR! How will people know I'm in the Army and have done some NCOES?!<br>
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SGT Greg Gold
SSG(P) (Join to see) - I call them my precision shooter starter kit. I had a Guard buddy who had spent 12 years in SOCOM, most that with 5th Group on a B team, and he had never seen them. I got him started and he earned his rifle EIC.
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SFC Quinn Chastant
Lovely just effing lovely how those ribbons of least importance can plus up some racks to make things stand out. I never understood the need for the superfluous ribbons either, but some goon thought they were important to confer information best relegated to the 201 and 2-1 file for promotion time.
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CMDCM Gene Treants
I know I'm Navy and not Army, but is it really necessary to speak Greek when you post? I hope I do nto do as much ACRONYSPEAK as many of the Army does.
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