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DISCLAIMER: I have numerous medals earned during my service (27 years combined active Army and Army Reserves and two wars - Vietnam and Grenada), so I can't be objective.

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ORIGINAL: Hillwilliam

http://news.yahoo.com/stolen-valor-act-supreme-court-lying-being-hero-132800911.html

The stolen valor act criminalizes lying about military service.

What say you folks? Free speech or Fraud?

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ORIGINAL: thompsonx

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DISCLAIMER: I have numerous medals earned during my service (27 years combined active Army and Army Reserves and two wars - Vietnam and Grenada), so I can't be objective.

After the 1983 Grenada invasion, the Army awarded more medals than the total number of soldiers who landed on the island.

http://www.g2mil.com/awards.htm

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ORIGINAL: xssve

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ORIGINAL: thompsonx

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DISCLAIMER: I have numerous medals earned during my service (27 years combined active Army and Army Reserves and two wars - Vietnam and Grenada), so I can't be objective.

After the 1983 Grenada invasion, the Army awarded more medals than the total number of soldiers who landed on the island.

http://www.g2mil.com/awards.htm

It is common to award campaign ribbons to everyone in the units participating in a given action, whether they see combat or not - dunno about medals, although presumably, there are medals, particularly the CMH that are only awarded to those who have directly risked bodily harm or death to perform a particular action - the Purple Heart likewise, is supposed to signify being wounded in combat, but certain medals look good on an officers record when they come up for promotion, so medals are awarded more liberally among officers I suspect, and the higher you go the worse it probably gets, being that most NCO's are promoted within the same unit, and similarly most field officers - meaning that if one of them shows up with a bogus award, everybody's gonna know it, although at the same time, those field officers also get plenty of chances to earn medals legitimately by simply being there and doing their job, than do officers and enlisted men in non-combat positions.

One of the things I liked about the military was that there were fewer workplace politics than you typically find in the civilian world, but that can vary considerably with where you are and how high you go.

Anyway, it's against the law to impersonate any officer or NCO, whether police or military, or otherwise, firemen, etc., I'm pretty sure, and I have no problem prosecuting people for it, although it's generally rather more pathetic than alarming.

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As a general rule, an officer or enlisted can expect to get one Achievement Medal or Commendation Medal per tour, depending on their service.

One gets an achievement or commendation for doing something not just for showing up.

It can be very helpful to a career to have been in a combat operation,


Given that tha is the military's mission it would make sense that ones carrear might be tied to their combat performance.

even in support. So to recognize this, CO's generally give their men the expected award for the operation instead of the normal end of tour award.

There is no such thing as "an end of tour award"

This is generally the case even for shore support or base operations folks, the guys who make sure ammo and food goes to support the operation, the Intel guys, and the coordination folks who help the unit coordinate with the stateside brass.
So it is expected that more medals would be awarded for an operation than the number of boots on the ground.

Everyone who shows up gets a campagn ribbon.
Medals are awarded for exemplary achievement in combat or support.

Someone who complains about it just shows their lack of knowledge about the military (not talking about you xssve, talking about Thompson)...

Your post clearly does not indicate that you have any first hand knowledge of the military.

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It is common to award campaign ribbons to everyone in the units participating in a given action, whether they see combat or not - dunno about medals, although presumably, there are medals, particularly the CMH that are only awarded to those who have directly risked bodily harm or death to perform a particular action - the Purple Heart likewise, is supposed to signify being wounded in combat, but certain medals look good on an officers record when they come up for promotion, so medals are awarded more liberally among officers I suspect, and the higher you go the worse it probably gets, being that most NCO's are promoted within the same unit, and similarly most field officers

To prevent personality cults the military likes to limit any tour of duty to about 1 year then they transfer you to another organization so the chances of someone knowing whether someone acutally was awarded a medal, ribbon or badge they would have to have access to that person's srb (service record book).

- meaning that if one of them shows up with a bogus award, everybody's gonna know it, although at the same time, those field officers also get plenty of chances to earn medals legitimately by simply being there and doing their job, than do officers and enlisted men in non-combat positions.

One of the things I liked about the military was that there were fewer workplace politics than you typically find in the civilian world, but that can vary considerably with where you are and how high you go.

You were obviously never in a headquarters company. Internicine warefare just like at ibm.